Treatment of a Child With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With Limited Motivation: Course and Outcome of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy.

Motivation is a key ingredient in the successful treatment of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As a first-line treatment, cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) requires extensive client engagement, including participating in exposures and doing homework tasks. A lack of motivation to comply with these tasks may seriously affect treatment outcome. This case study identifies factors interfering with motivation and illustrates motivational strategies to enhance compliance of a child with OCD. The patient was an 11-year-old boy with severe OCD and symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). He had extensive OCD-related avoidance behavior but denied the presence of symptoms or did not acknowledge them as a problem. In this article, we discuss the different techniques used to enhance motivation, which subsequently led to a favorable outcome.