I-CBT. Inference-Based Cognitive Therapy

I-CBT is an evidence-based, specialized form of CBT for OCD treatment. While traditional CBT addresses compulsions through ERP (Exposure with Response Prevention), I-CBT focuses on the obsessions.

Traditional CBT model suggests that OCD is driven by a person’s misinterpretation of randomly occurring intrusive thought as significant. However, according to I-CBT, the obsessions are not randomly occurring intrusive thoughts but instead are inferences (conclusions) that people with OCD come up with because of a faulty reasoning process.  

This faulty reasoning process is called inferential confusion, which happens when a person gives credibility to a story he or she created in their mind. The story is based on the person’s ideas and not on the observable reality. This leads to doubting what’s happening in the present moment and also doubting various things about themselves. The person mistakes imagined possibilities with real possibilities.

The goal of I-CBT is to help patients resolve the inferential confusion process. It explores the reasoning behind the confusion and the doubt and helps patients develop awareness of OCD processes that make obsessions appear as if they are based on reality. Patients learn to trust their inner and outer senses and their common sense