The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on thought fusion and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

jafarian, hoda; nakhkoob, maryam

Volume 19, Issue 3 (Volume19, Issue 3 2025) 2025, 19(3): 0-0 | Back to browse issues page

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jafarian H, nakhkoob M. The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on thought fusion and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Research in psychological health 2025; 19 (3)
URL: http://rph.khu.ac.ir/article-1-4776-en.html

The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on thought fusion and severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Hoda Jafarian¹

, Maryam Nakhkoob

1- , jafarian@gmail.com

Abstract: (1644 Views)

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on thought fusion and the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The research method was a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with a control group. The statistical population of the study included patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder referring to counseling centers and psychological clinics in Tehran between October and December 2025. After the diagnosis of the disorder based on the Structured Clinical Interview (SCID) and the Yale-Brown Scale, 40 patients were selected using a convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (20 people) and control groups (20 people). The experimental group underwent cognitive-behavioral therapy, and data were collected using the Thought Fusion Questionnaire (TAFQ) and the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsivity Scale (Y-BOCS) at the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. Data analysis was performed using repeated measures analysis of variance. The results showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy significantly reduced thought fusion and the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the experimental group compared to the control group, and this effect was maintained at the follow-up stage. Based on the findings of the study, cognitive-behavioral therapy can be used as an effective intervention in reducing the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder by modifying dysfunctional cognitive beliefs, especially thought-action fusion

Keywords: Cognitive-behavioral therapy, cognitive-action fusion, obsessive-compulsive disorder, severity of obsessive symptoms.