Introduction & Theoretical Background
Obsessions are unwanted thoughts and images that pop into your mind which you find unacceptable, or which make you feel anxious. Compulsions are things that you do in response to your obsessions, often to stop harm from occurring, or to make you feel better. People whose obsessions and compulsions interfere significantly with their lives are said to have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Research studies have shown that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective treatments for OCD (Ponniah, Magiato & Hollon, 2013). CBT therapists work a bit like firefighters: while the fire is burning they aren’t very interested in what caused it, but are more focused on what is keeping it going. This is because if they can work out what keeps a problem going, they can treat the problem by ‘removing the fuel’ and interrupting this maintaining cycle.
In 1985, psychologist Paul Salkovskis described key components that are