Psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches of obsessive-compulsive disorder: is it time to work through our ambivalence?

This paper provides an overview of the growing convergence among psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral approaches of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). From a traditional psychoanalytic point of view, OCD is mainly conceptualized in terms of a constant conflict between feelings of love and hate. More recent psychodynamic theories of OCD, such as the object-relational model, focus on the role of ambivalent mental representations or cognitive-affective schemas of self and others. This notion of mental representations or schemas links psychodynamic formulations to cognitive-behavioral approaches of OCD. Moreover, there is increasing overlap between psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral models concerning the core dynamics involved in OCD. Implications of this convergence for future research and clinical practice are discussed.