Effectiveness of an internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy program enriched with inferential confusion for obsessive-compulsive disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has adverse impacts on quality of life and despite having treatment alternatives, some patients have difficulty in accessing services and/or end up with failure. While structured internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy programs (ICBT) facilitating access to treatment are becoming widespread worldwide, more research is needed for program with various novel components, and such programs are, unfortunately, still relatively scarce in developing countries such as Türkiye. The present study attempted to explore the effectiveness of an ICBT program alloyed with the inferential confusion model. In a quasi-randomized clinical trial, 42 participants aged 18–65 years with the primary diagnosis of OCD, were assigned to the intervention and wait list control groups. Pretest and post test assessments on OCD symptom measures, obsessive beliefs, depression and quality of life were conducted for both groups. Whereas, the ICBT program with one-month follow-up assessments were administered to the participants in the intervention group. Completer analyses with the two-way analysis of variance for the mixed designs yielded that the participants’ post-test scores on the all main measures significantly decreased. The analyses were generally replicated with intention-to-treat analyses. Accordingly, we indicated that the data on the effectiveness of the program, except for the DOCS and the physical health scores, remained significant. This original ICBT program that enhanced by inference-based therapy techniques, was found to be an effective one in reducing OCD symptoms and accompanying depressive symptoms among our participants diagnosed with OCD. These findings would guide future studies and initiatives to promote access to treatment.