A few specific cognitive techniques used in the treatment of
OCD are as follows: Where patients overestimate personal
responsibility, the "pie technique" (25) has them give an initial
estimate ofthe percentage of responsibility that would be
attributable to them if a feared consequence were to occur.
The patient then generates a list ofthe parties (other than himself
or herself) who would also have some responsibility for
the feared consequence. The patient then draws a pie chart,
each slice of which represents one ofthe responsible parties
identified. Next, the patient labels all parties' slices according
to their percenage of responsibility and labels his or her own
slice last. By the exercise's end, it is generally clear to patients
that most of the responsibility for the feared event would not
be their own. For patients with difficulty discriminating
between unwanted obsessional thoughts and actions