Positive impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the treatment of contamination fear in obsessive-compulsive patients in Armenia
Hovsepyan A.,1,2, Mkrtchyan A.,2 Aghekyan E.,2 Khachatryan T.1,2
1 MHS Mental Health Service, Yerevan, Armenia
2 Department of Psychiatry, Avdalbekyan National Institute of Health, Yerevan, Armenia
ABSTRACT
Objective: To observe the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on patients with contamination
fear at obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and how this can be used to improve psychotherapeutic
treatment.
Materials and methods: 33 patients were involved, divided into 2 groups, in one of which
we used additional experimental features of psychotherapy. OCD total condition and separate symptoms were assessed using Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS).
Results: Patients, included in Group A, showed significantly better improvement in both total Y-BOCS score, as well as in particular symptoms connected with so-called mental contamination.
Conclusions: Adding reality-based and emotionally significant features of contamination control and
prevention to standard cognitive-behavioral therapy protocol may seriously improve outcomes in the treatment of mental contamination obsessions. The period of pandemics, as well as post-pandemic, can be used for intense further research in this area in a larger selection of patients. Long-term follow-up is recommended to clarify the stability of positive changes.
Keywords: obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessions, contamination fear, COVID-19, mental health, cognitive-behavioral therapy