ABSTRACT
The first phase of an intervention on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) calls for a reconstruction of the diagram of the disorder and subsequent sharing with the patient. This procedure facilitates a description of the patient’s conduct, by adopting a useful model for outlining the internal profile of the disorder in which to insert goals, intentions, and self-representations. For the patient affected by OCD, giving an explanation to his suffering through the recognition of the intentional component of his conduct helps him to get back some power over the possibility of reorienting his own behaviour in a different direction. To arrive at a graphic representation of the disorder, a good place to start is to have the patient describe a recent episode, preferably the one that most preoccupies the patient, in which an intrusive thought or image came to mind.
