Context The extant literature on the treatment of pediatric OCD indicates that partial response to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) is the norm, and that augmentation with short-term OCD-specific cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) may provide additional benefit. Objective To examine the effects of augmenting SRIs with CBT or a brief form of CBT, instructions in CBT (I-CBT) delivered in the context of medication management (MM). Design A 12-week, 3 (site: Penn, Duke, Brown) × 3 (treatment conditions: MM, MM+I-CBT, & MM+CBT) × 4 (repeated measures: weeks 0, 4, 8, & 12) randomized controlled trial. Setting The outpatient clinics of three academic medical centers between 2004 and 2009. Participants Outpatients (N = 124) between the ages of 7–17 with primary OCD and a Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) score ≥ 16 despite an adequate SRI trial. Interventions Participants were randomized to receive 12 weeks of: 1) MM (7 sessions), 2) MM+I-CBT (7 sessions) or 3) MM+CBT (7 sessions of MM plus 14 concurrent CBT sessions). Main Outcome Measures Responder status as defined as a post-treatment CY-BOCS reduction of 30% or greater compared to baseline; change in continuous CY-BOCS total score over 12 weeks. Results MM+CBT was superior to MM and to MM+I-CBT on all outcome measures. In the primary ITT analysis, 68.6% in MM+CBT (95% confidence interval [CI], 53.9%–83.3%) were considered responders, which was significantly better than the 34.0% in MM+I-CBT (95% CI, 18.0% to 50.0%), and 30.0% in MM (95% CI, 14.9% to 45.1%). Planned pairwise comparisons show that MM+CBT was superior to both MM and MM+I-CBT (p < 0.01 for both). MM+I-CBT was not statistically significant from MM (p = 0.72). The number needed to treat (NNT) with MM+CBT versus MM to see one additional RESPONSE at Week 12, on average, was estimated as 3; for MM+CBT versus MM+I-CBT the NNT was also estimated as 3 ;for MM+I-CBT versus MM the NNT was estimated as 25. Conclusion Among patients age 7–17 with OCD and partial response to SRI use, the addition of CBT by a psychologist to medication management compared with medication management alone resulted in a significantly greater response rate, whereas, augmentation of medication management with the addition of instructions in CBT by the psychiatrist did not. Dissemination of full CBT augmentation for pediatric OCD partial responders of SRI should be an important public health objective.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a distressing and functionally impairing disorder that can emerge as early as age 4. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for OCD in youth shows great promise for amelioration of symptoms and associated functional impairment. However, the empirical evidence base for the efficacy of CBT in youth has some significant limitations, particularly as related to treating the very young child with OCD. This report includes a quantitative review of existing child CBT studies to evaluate evidence for the efficacy of CBT for OCD. It identifies gaps in the literature that, when addressed, would enhance the understanding of effective treatment in pediatric OCD. Finally, it presents a proposed research agenda for addressing the unique concerns of the young child with OCD.

This paper describes the phenomenological features of early childhood onset obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD; defined as children meeting DSM-IV criteria for OCD with age of onset <8 years). Fifty-eight children (ages 4–8) were included in the sample. OCD and comorbid diagnoses were determined by structured interview, and OCD severity was measured using the Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS). Mean age of OCD onset was almost five, and mean age of presentation was between 6 and 7. Mean symptom severity was in the moderately severe range. Comorbidity and family history of OCD were common. Contamination and aggressive/catastrophic obsessions and washing and checking compulsions were endorsed most frequently. Results indicate that early childhood onset OCD may have a lower boy to girl ratio and lower rates of depressive disorders, but may be similar to later childhood onset OCD in terms of OCD symptom presentation and severity.

This paper presents the rationale, design, and methods of the Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Treatment Study II (POTS II), which investigates two different cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) augmentation approaches in children and adolescents who have experienced a partial response to pharmacotherapy with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor for OCD. The two CBT approaches test a "single doctor" versus "dual doctor" model of service delivery. A specific goal was to develop and test an easily disseminated protocol whereby child psychiatrists would provide instructions in core CBT procedures recommended for pediatric OCD (e.g., hierarchy development, in vivo exposure homework) during routine medical management of OCD (I-CBT). The conventional "dual doctor" CBT protocol consists of 14 visits over 12 weeks involving: (1) psychoeducation, (2), cognitive training, (3) mapping OCD, and (4) exposure with response prevention (EX/RP). I-CBT is a 7-session version of CBT that does not include imaginal exposure or therapist-assisted EX/RP. In this study, we compared 12 weeks of medication management (MM) provided by a study psychiatrist (MM only) with two types of CBT augmentation: (1) the dual doctor model (MM+CBT); and (2) the single doctor model (MM+I-CBT). The design balanced elements of an efficacy study (e.g., random assignment, independent ratings) with effectiveness research aims (e.g., differences in specific SRI medications, dosages, treatment providers). The study is wrapping up recruitment of 140 youth ages 7–17 with a primary diagnosis of OCD. Independent evaluators (IEs) rated participants at weeks 0,4,8, and 12 during acute treatment and at 3,6, and 12 month follow-up visits.NCT00074815