Effects of Detached Mindfulness on Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Detached mindfulness (DM), a technique from metacognitive therapy, significantly reduced obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adults with OCD who were already taking medication. In a group of 17 patients, average Y-BOCS scores dropped from 25.29 before treatment to 13.53 afterward, a statistically significant improvement. Homework compliance was acceptable. The authors conclude DM is beneficial for moderately severe OCD but note that larger studies are needed to confirm its effectiveness for treatment-resistant patients.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of detached mindfulness (DM) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Seventeen adult patients with OCD, who were receiving psychotropic medication, were included in the study. M.A., a qualified metacognitive therapist at the Metacognitive Therapy Institute in Manchester, conducted DM therapy. The Yale-Brown Obsession Compulsion Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to monitor clinical progress. The mean Y-BOCS scores at baseline and the end of the study were 25.29 ± 5.70 and 13.53 ± 3.41, respectively, and a paired t-test analysis revealed a statistically significant difference between baseline and end-of-treatment scores (P<.001). The homework practices were also assessed in sessions 2, 3, and 4. The mean homework scores at the second, third, and fourth homework sessions were 8.70 ± 1.10, 8.00 ± 0.79 and 8.20 ± 1.1, respectively. The DM homework completion rate was at an acceptable level. In conclusion, our study has shown that the DM technique, one of the main techniques used in metacognitive therapy, is significantly beneficial in patients with a certain degree of severity. We are of the opinion that supportive studies with larger sample sizes are necessary for the demonstration of efficacy in patients with significant treatment resistance.