Behavioral Conceptualizations of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders

Abstract

Abstract The current chapter provides a selective overview of behavioral theories of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) and reviews the empirical support for these theories. Behavioral theories revolutionized the psychological conceptualization and treatment of the OCRDs, and there is strong evidence accumulated over the past 50 years demonstrating the seminal role of learning processes in the maintenance of the conditions. The evidence supporting the role of learning factors in the development of the OCRDs is somewhat less clear. In the past decade, there has been renewed interest in modeling the full range of learning factors related to fear extinction in the context of exposure-based therapy, and the principles and empirical evidence for the role of inhibitory learning are addressed in the chapter.