Five individuals did not total the study. those treated with SSRIs only. However, there were no significant differences between Take action and combined treatment on OC symptoms and EA. CSC and total remission status results showed that unlike SSRI, Take action and combined treatment led to more improvement in OC symptoms. Conclusions: Take action and combined treatment are more effective than SSRIs alone in treating OC symptoms and EA. However, it appears that adding SSRIs to ACT does not increase the effectiveness of (+)-Cloprostenol Take action in the treatment of adults with OCD in the short-term. strong class=”kwd-title” Keywords: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors 1. Background Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and exposure with response prevention for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have exhibited empirical support; however, a substantial quantity of patients remain with clinically significant OCD symptoms after these treatments (1-6). In recent years, one of the encouraging novel treatment strategies developed to improve the efficacy of treatment for patients with OCD is usually acceptance and commitment therapy (Take action) (7, 8). Take action is usually a third-wave behavior therapy, which specifically focuses on decreasing experiential avoidance (EA), increasing activity in the chosen valued life direction and increasing psychological flexibility. The goal of Take action is not symptom reduction per se, but helping patients to accept aversive inner (+)-Cloprostenol experiences (e.g. thoughts, images, emotions and bodily sensations) in the support of engaging in values-guided behavior (9). EA is usually defined as unwillingness to remain in contact or experience aversive private thoughts or experiences to avoid or escape from these experiences (7). EA has been suggested to play an important role in the development and maintenance of OCD (10). EA has been hypothesized to manifest as compulsions in OCD (10). In EA perspective, patients with OCD engage in compulsions to control or reduce their unwanted obsessional thoughts, because they want to reduce unfavorable affect associated with them (10). In support of this perspective, correlational studies have found that high levels of EA were positively associated with high levels obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms (11-13). In treating OCD, Take action targets EA and cognitive fusion through defusion and acceptance techniques. Take action teaches patients to create a new relationship with obsessive thoughts and anxious emotions, for example, helping patients notice that a thought is just thought and (+)-Cloprostenol stress is an emotion to be felt. Take action also helps patients commit to take action in the support of their valued life goals rather than spending large amounts of time trying to decrease the obsession or avoid anxious feelings. Take action helps patients to accept their obsessional thoughts and unfavorable feelings and commit to acting in service of their valued life directions whether obsessions were occurring. Thus, these constructs would increase psychological flexibility, which is the ability to take action inconsistent with patients meaningful life directions regardless of unpleasant inner experiences (14, 15). Take action has demonstrated large and clinically (+)-Cloprostenol significant improvements in OCD symptoms in adults (14-17) and adolescent (18). However, according to the best of our knowledge, you will find no randomized controlled studies directly comparing the relative effectiveness of Take action with SSRIs and combination of Take action and SSRIs in the treatment of OCD. 2. Objectives Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare Take action with SSRIs and combination of Take action and SSRIs in improvement of OC symptoms and EA. 3. Materials and Methods In an experimental design using convenience sampling, adults with OCD were recruited from outpatients of clinics in Tehran, Iran, from February 2012 to March 2013. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tehran University or college of Medical Sciences. A written informed consent was obtained from patients and received total descriptions regarding the study procedures. Inclusion criteria for the sample were: a) a primary diagnosis of OCD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) (19); b) age between 18 and 50 years; and c) OC symptoms period of at least one year. Patients were excluded from the study if they: a) experienced a current or past psychotic disorder; b) had suicidal tendencies; c) experienced a medical illness; d) had a substance abuse Rabbit Polyclonal to AQP3 disorder; e) had a personality disorder and f) had been treated with either pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy in the last one month. Forty-four patients were referred for treatment, of which 40 (+)-Cloprostenol met the DSM-IV-TR criteria for OCD. They.