The Effectiveness of Transdiagnostic Treatment on Anxiety Sensitivity, Thought Fusion and Reduction of Symptoms in People with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of transdiagnostic treatment on anxiety sensitivity, thought fusion, and reduction of symptoms in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The study design was semi-experimental and it was implemented through the pretest-posttest along with a control group. In this study, the voluntary sampling method was applied. Therefore, among the statistical population of the study, 30 women that all of them with obsessive-compulsive disorder who settled in Isfahan province in 2020 were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups according to inclusion and exclusion criteria derived from the study and clinical interview. The instruments applied in the current study encompassed the Yale-brown Obsessive Scale, the Anxiety Sensitivity Scale, and the Thought Fusion Questionnaire. After implementing the pretest, the participants in the experimental group were exposed to transdiagnostic treatment training collaboratively during 10 sessions for 60 minutes. Eventually, after implementing the post-test, the data were analyzed by using an analysis of covariance.

The results obtained from data analysis demonstrated that transdiagnostic treatment has paved the way for reducing anxiety sensitivity, thought fusion, and symptoms of the people with obsessive-compulsive disorder in the experimental group and in the post-test phase, and at last these changes are statistically significant. Consequently, this method can be used as an interventional and therapeutic method in order to reduce the symptoms of anxiety sensitivity, thought fusion, and symptoms of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.