Crossing the bridge between reality and imagination: Inference Based Cognitive Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Abstract

This article pretends to introduce the Inference Based Therapy (IBT) for the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This new intervention  appears  due to some of the limitations that the cognitive appraisal models (CAM) present in the clinical  practice.  The IBT does not  pretend to  replace these models but to emphasize  other clinical aspects  not considered until now. While CAM are focused in modifying irrational beliefs domains and appraisals along with a strong component of  Exposure with Prevention Response, the IBT underlines the inferential confusion process as the origin of the initial doubt, which is considered as an inference by itself. In the present article, we introduce: what would be the CAM limitations from the IBT point of view, the IBT principles and  the different phases of the therapeutic process. We finish with a practical case to illustrate how to apply the model in the clinical practice.