Behavioural treatment of obsessional-compulsive patients in routine clinical practice

There is a paucity of information available about the extent to which findings from research studies of behavioural treatments can be generalised to routine clinical practice. The characteristics and treatment at a series of 36 patients with obsessional-compulsive disorders who were referred to a National Health Service Behaviour Therapy Clinic are described. It appears that the methods developed and evaluated in research trials have been incorporated into everyday clinical practice, with some modifications (e.g. less in vivo practice but more home task assignment). The outcomes reported in the research trials were replicated in the clinical setting, and were shown to be achieved economically in terms of therapist time.