Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition characterised by persistent intrusive thoughts or obsessions. These obsessions lead people to engage in repetitive patterns of behavior known as compulsions. This constant cycle of obsessions and compulsions can be severely distressing, often having a huge impact on a person’s everyday functioning.
While Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Exposure And Response Prevention (ERP) are common and effective treatments for OCD, another therapy, Inference Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (ICBT), offers a fresh and unique perspective on treating OCD. Let us explore the therapy in depth.
What Is Inference Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (ICBT)?
ICBT is a form of CBT, specifically designed to treat OCD. While traditional CBT focuses on challenging and changing intrusive thoughts found in people with OCD, ICBT dives deeper by helping people identify the thought process that leads to obsession and intrusive thoughts.
ICBT believes that obsessions are a result of faulty thought processes known as obsessive doubts. According to ICBT, obsessions develop when people start relying excessively on their imagination, rather than trusting their own senses. As a result, people with OCD often get caught up with a lot of ‘what-if scenarios’, instead of trusting themselves. ICBT helps people identify and correct faulty reasoning or thinking processes underlying their obsessions, leading to a reduction in OCD symptoms.
Having understood the basics, let’s look at a few key concepts from ICBT
- Obsessional Doubts- Obsessional doubts occur when people end up doubting the validity of their thoughts, leading to uncertainties or ‘what-ifs that trigger anxiety, which often lead to compulsions. ’For example, someone with contamination OCD might have an obsessional doubt: “Did I wash my hands well enough?”
- Obsessional Reasoning– This is the faulty pattern of thinking that is usually used to justify obsessions. In the above example, the person might reason, “If I’m not certain my hands are clean, someone might get sick.”
- Inferential Confusion- This occurs when a person with OCD is unable to let go of their intrusive thoughts, despite finding contrary evidence in reality. Obsessive reasoning is often a result of inferential confusion.
- Reality Testing– Reality testing involves evaluating the evidence for and against obsessional thoughts. ICBT encourages clients to use their five senses to ground themselves in reality, challenging the validity of their obsessive thoughts
How Does ICBT Help With OCD?
ICBT helps people with OCD in many ways, such as
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Root Cause Analysis:
Unlike traditional CBT, which focuses on changing intrusive thoughts, ICBT helps clients explore the root cause of their obsessions. This could involve exploring past experiences and faulty reasoning patterns. Exploring the root cause of obsessions helps increase self-awareness, which is essential to recovery.
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Identifying And Interrupting Doubt Sequences
One of the crucial parts of ICBT is teaching clients how to recognize the cycle of obsessional doubt and faulty reasoning. With practice, they can learn to interrupt this cycle before engaging in compulsions
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Resolving Self-Doubt
People with OCD have difficulties trusting their judgement of reality, which triggers the cycle of obsessive reasoning and compulsions. ICBT teaches people to trust their own judgement and intuition instead of relying on their obsessions for reassurance. This increased trust can help reduce the power of obsessional thoughts.
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Reality Sensing
ICBT uses mindfulness to help people get in touch with their five primary senses Looking at reality through sensory information helps people be in the present, thus helping them to be in touch with reality instead of acting on their intrusive thoughts
Overall, ICBT aims to help people trust themselves rather than their obsessions. By building confidence in their decision-making, people can reduce the frequency and intensity of intrusive thoughts over time.
Conclusion:
In summary, ICBT is a new, unique, yet effective approach specifically designed to treat OCD. It is unique because it targets the thought process that leads to intrusive thoughts and helps people build more trust in themselves. ICBT is also grounded in research which makes it even more valuable. Overall, it can be helpful for those who want to explore treatment options beyond CBT and ERP for OCD.
References:
- Aardema, F. (n.d.). What is I-CBT? Inference-Based Cognitive-Behavorial Therapy. Retrieved June 19, 2024, from https://icbt.online/what-is-icbt/
- Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT): How it Works, Examples, & Effectiveness. (n.d.). ChoosingTherapy.Com. Retrieved June 19, 2024, from https://www.choosingtherapy.com/icbt/
- Psychology, W. F. (2023, October 9). I-CBT for Overcoming OCD: What You Need to Know. Weston Family Psychology. https://westonfamilypsychology.com/blog/i-cbt-for-overcoming-ocd-what-you-need-to-know/
