Evaluation of Cognitive-Analytic Therapy (CAT) outcome in patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Background

Psychotherapy, in general, is the main therapeutic approach for patients with personality disorders. CAT is a brief psychotherapeutic technique, which has been proven efficacious for patients with various psychiatric disorders. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the outcome of CAT in patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) with and without an additional axis-I DSM-IV diagnosis.

Materials and methods

The sample of the study consisted of 64 patients, who attended the Community Mental Health Center of N/W district of Thessaloniki over a period of 5 years (2002-2006), received a diagnosis of OCPD or personality disorder NOS with predominant obsessive compulsive traits, according to DSM-IV criteria and for whom it has been decided to be treated with CAT. The MMPI and the EPQ were used as evaluation instruments on a follow up, 2 months after therapy termination.

Results

Forty-five patients who attended the 2-month follow-up, showed a statistically significant improvement on the majority of clinical scales, on the sum of clinical scales and on some of the research scales of the MMPI, as well as on scales N and E of the EPQ, compared to the intake. The subgroup of patients with OCPD only (N=11) also showed improvement on the above tests, compared to the intake, as the patients with OCPD and an additional axis-I diagnosis.

Conclusions

CAT is an effective brief psychotherapeutic approach for patients with OCPD with and without a comorbid axis-I diagnosis. Future investigation, in more distant follow-ups, is necessary to validate the above promising results.