Many families struggle to find OCD treatment for their children.

Specialty trained therapists are limited and weight lists are usually long.

Online therapy is an option, but how well does it work?

Today, we discuss a study that examines online cognitive behavioral therapy

with exposure and responds prevention for kids with OCD.

I'm Dr. Josh Vader, the editor-in-chief of the Carlatte Child Psychiatry Report and co-author of the Child Medication Fact Book for Psychiatric Practice, Second Edition,

2023, and our other book, Prescribing Psychotropics.

And I'm Mara Gofferman, a licensed clinical social worker in Southern California with a private

practice and an avid reader of the Carlet Psychiatry Reports.

Online therapy is a big topic right now, especially when access to specially trained therapists is limited.

Yes, and we can turn to a 2022 Holman study for Insight.

This study looks at whether online CBT is as effective as in-person treatment.

The researchers recruited 60 children ages 6 to 18, all with primary diagnosis of OCD and with moderate

symptom severity.

The treatment lasted 14 weeks, and they compared immediate treatment with a delayed start control group.

And here's what they found. There was a significant reduction in symptoms in the treatment group

after 16 weeks. And the effect size is large with a cones D of 1.63, an impressive 64% of kids reached remission.

The researchers tracked outcomes for almost a year post-treatment and found sustained improvements.

Families generally said they preferred the online format, which suggests that remote care

may be a viable alternative.

So here's my thought about this. Because successive generations are really tied to online

kinds of work, especially after the pandemic, even before the pandemic, there were online

...