For Concordia University\u2019s Adam Radomsky, a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Director of the Centre for Clinical Research in Health at Concordia, finding a viable treatment for these individuals is driving research freshly funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR). Based on previous work conducted with colleagues at the University of British Columbia and the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, Radomsky is now testing a novel approach to treatment for compulsive checking that could just mean vast improvements in the quality of life of countless individuals.<\/p>\n \u201cFor years, the best way to treat compulsive checking in OCD sufferers has been through a difficult therapeutic process known as exposure and response prevention, or ERP\u201d explains Radomsky. \u201cBy facing their worst fears repeatedly until their anxiety declines, patients learn to diffuse their hypervigilant checking responses \u2014 in theory.\u201d In practise, however, this type of treatment often results in patients quickly discontinuing the therapy. \u201cRefusal rates for ERP are unacceptably high, which is why we need to develop a new and refined treatment that specifically works for compulsive checking.\u201d<\/p>\n Radomsky\u2019s treatment builds on previous research which found that individuals with OCD who compulsively checked certain aspects of their surroundings did so because of an inflated sense of perceived responsibility<\/strong>. \u201cIf I don\u2019t turn off the stove, the house will burn down\u201d, is a plausible thought that can quickly devolve into an obsessive cycle of checking and re-checking, and can even result in an inability to leave the house. Yet, as proved by Radomsky\u2019s previous research, performing these seemingly senseless repetitions actually results in a loss of confidence.<\/p>\n By modifying the patient\u2019s inflated feelings of personal responsibility and reducing predictions of seriousness of anticipated misfortunes, the cycle can be turned the around<\/strong>. By placing the emphasis on how people think rather than on what they do, Radomsky\u2019s new approach targets people’s faulty beliefs about how responsible they think they are, about their own memories, and about the dangers that they perceive<\/strong>. The progress of the proposed treatment takes the patient from exercises in normalizing inflated responsibility, through restoring confidence in memory, all the way to reducing self-doubt and guilt, hopefully leaving patients with new insights into how they perceive themselves, and the world around them.<\/p>\n Developed in the lab, Radomsky\u2019s research is set to show real promise in the field. \u201cFor me and my team,\u201d says Radomsky, \u201cthis work will capitalize on all of our previous experimental research and lead us to testing a new intervention based on our previous findings. It\u2019s our hope that this work will lead to a more substantial test of the treatment, which in turn could influence how people treat OCD in Montreal, in Canada and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n Partners in research: <\/strong>The original paper, published in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice<\/em>, was co-authored by Rosamund Shafran and AE Coughtrey from the University of Reading, and by Stanley Rachman from the University of British Columbia. The CIHR-funded study also involves co-investigators Michel Dugas, Gail Myhr, and Maureen Whittal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Concordia University press release: Did I remember to lock the back door? Did I turn off the stove? Were the lights still on when I left the house… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[123,154,49,298,206,12],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2294,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293\/revisions\/2294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/LightSwitch.jpg\" "\\"light")
Did I remember to lock the back door? Did I turn off the stove? Were the lights still on when I left the house this morning? Such minor doubts are part our daily mental chatter. But for the over 650,000 Canadians who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), thoughts along these lines can lead to compulsive checking \u2014 a potentially debilitating behaviour that keeps the sufferer locked in an endless cycle of fear and doubt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n