OCD and Intolerance of Uncertainty: Treatment Issues

Recognition of the importance of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) as a critical cognitive distortion in anxiety disorders has been growing. The clinical challenge for researchers and clinicians is to understand the nature of IU and what it means to help clients to cope with it. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is the ideal diagnosis to examine the challenges IU can present, since, in the author’s opinion, it is the core of almost all manifestations of OCD. The article then focuses upon three factors in which IU factors play a role in successful/unsuccessful treatment: (a) the role of the therapist in helping the sufferer to understand IU and the goals of treatment; (b) techniques for helping the sufferer to accept and carry out the goals of treatment; and (c) patient factors/problems leading to “resistance” in coping with IU.