Living with Mental Illness » Obsessive Compulisive Disorder Treatment Methods

Obsessive Compulisive Disorder Treatment Methods

Posted on February 28, 2009
Filed Under Uncategorized |

OCD stands for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, where the patient repeatedly encounters meddling thoughts and ideas usually associated with fear, worry and insecurity, termed as “obsession” and are thereby compelled to perform the ideas such as washing and cleaning repeatedly, cross-checking over and again, etc. Such activities are collectively termed as “compulsion” (or “rituals”) to overcome the insecurities with which the patient is challenged. Basically, a mental disorder associated with anxiety, the causes of OCD are mostly biological in nature. The OCD treatment begins with

Identifying the symptoms
Precise diagnosis
Acceptance of the disorder especially by loved ones.

Only after this stage, the OCD treatment could have a higher chance of success; remember to have support and encouragement from your family.

OCD treatment would normally combine few different methods, like cognitive behavioral theraphy (CBT), medication and complementary exercise like Yoga, Taiji, QiGong and meditation. Depending on the person condition, the treatment plan may vary from people to people.

MEDICATION

1. Antidepressants

Drugs that treat depression can also treat OCD as OCD cause depression too. One way of controlling the symptoms is the usage of antidepressants like paroxetine, sertraline, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine which are known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs).

Mode of Action:

These are a class of antidepressants that retain high extracellular levels of the neurotransmitter called Serotonin in the brain by inhibiting its reuptake by the receptor cells.
The under-stimulation of the receptor cells results in depression.
Serotonin levels are thus largely associated with anger, mood, hunger, sexuality.

2. Antiobsessional Drugs

Some of such drugs could be consumed under the strict supervision of a Physician as they may possess irreversible neurological side-effects. These pharmaceutical products aim at controlling OCD at the obsession level. Thus the compulsion is drastically reduced too.

PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy is very important in OCD treatment; it can boost the drugs effect and help the patient to recover faster. This kind of treatment will be done by trained and qualified psychiatrist. The treatment starts from exposure and response prevention; by exposing the patient to the OCD triggered environment, or situation, and let them know they should only do the things once, re-program their behavior to react and prevent repetitive action, and this is called Behavior Therapy. The co-operation between the patient and the therapist is very critical, both must be able to work together to overcome the problems and troubles faced by the patient.

PSYCHOSURGERY

Psychosurgery is the ultimate option when all other OCD treatment techniques have failed. Surgery aims at deep stimulations of the nerves emerging from the CNS. The technique entails high precision and is not always successful.

NATURAL REMEDIES

Natural treatment has less side effects than chemical based drugs, and many of the native remedies and herbals has been used to treat anxiety and OCD related problems for hundreds of years by the native people around the world.

Inositol: Natural sugar that can alter serotonin levels in the body
St. John’s Wort: Calm depression effectively
Passionflower: Helps in relaxation with sedative effects

I hope this article help you understand more about OCD, and if you want to know more about OCD and anxiety treatment, visit our website Anxiety and OCD Treatment or Anxiety and OCD Self Help to find more information.