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Treatment of Contamination in Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

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Clinical Handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

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Abstract

Contamination is the most common concern in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with 50–55 % of those with OCD exhibiting contamination fear. Similarly, cleaning compulsions, the compulsions most linked to contamination OCD, are the second most common OCD symptom, second to compulsive checking. Various maladaptive cognitions, disgust sensitivity, emotion dysregulation, and neural characteristics have been associated with contamination OCD. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) has been demonstrated to be efficacious with contamination OCD; however, individuals with contamination-related OCD respond more poorly to treatment. The majority of the research body consists of studies of adults, and little research has examined contamination OCD in children or adolescents. The following case study reviews the successful treatment of a 13-year-old with contamination-related OCD, social anxiety, and depression through the use of traditional ERP combined with therapy addressing family factors. The case illustrates the importance of clients completing exposure exercises to items at the top of the client’s exposure hierarchy as well as the impact that family factors may have on children and adolescents with contamination-related OCD.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, 44106, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Amy Przeworski PhD

  2. Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Jennifer Freeman PhD & Abbe Garcia PhD

  3. University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Martin Franklin PhD

  4. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Jeffrey Sapyta PhD

Authors
  1. Amy Przeworski PhD
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  2. Jennifer Freeman PhD
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  3. Abbe Garcia PhD
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  4. Martin Franklin PhD
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  5. Jeffrey Sapyta PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy Przeworski PhD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Health Policy & Management, Psychiatry & Behavioral Neurosciences, and Psychology, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

    Eric A. Storch

  2. Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

    Adam B. Lewin

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Przeworski, A., Freeman, J., Garcia, A., Franklin, M., Sapyta, J. (2016). Treatment of Contamination in Childhood Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In: Storch, E., Lewin, A. (eds) Clinical Handbook of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17139-5_8

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