Is there a role for the family in cognitive-behavioral treatment?
Most definitely! The support and encouragement of family members closest to the patient is crucial to the success of treatment. Family members often are at a loss as to how to help the patient, and must learn more appropriate reactions to the patient’s OCD problem. Therefore, family members are encouraged to learn as much as they can about the treatment process, including the basic principles of exposure and response prevention treatment. This can be accomplished through reading appropriate books and articles on OCD (including The OCD Workbook by Dr. Hyman, and Loving Someone with OCD by Landsman, Rupertus and Pedrick), and attending family consultation sessions to target specific ways the family can further the treatment and recovery process.
