Evaluating the effectiveness of paradox therapy for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A case study

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Professor, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The present article has two purposes. Firstly, this article introduces the principles and techniques of a new psychotherapeutic model for the treatment of psychological disorders shortly named PTC (Paradox + Timetable = Cure). Secondly, this article evaluates the effectiveness of PTC for the treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). PTC is a very short-term psychotherapeutic model successfully used for the treatment of a wide range of psychological disorders including anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, trauma- and stress-related disorders, somatic symptom and related disorders and feeding and eating disorders (Besharat, 2017). The PTC therapy process and outcomes for an OCD patient is fully described in the present article. Results of a five-session PTC therapy indicated that the treatment of the patient was successfully done. The result of an eighteen-months follow-up showed that the therapeutic changes were satisfactory, stable and permanent, during which no relapse was happened. These results corroborated the deep and permanent effects of the PTC psychotherapeutic model in the shortest possible time. The influential mechanisms of “paradoxical timetable”, as the main PTC technique, and its adjustment to the treatment outcomes of the patient are also explained in the present article. The PTC psychotherapeutic model, as a very short-term, effective, efficient and yet economical approach is introduced and suggested for the treatment of OCD.

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