Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – General Information

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – Symptoms

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – Treatment

Actually, there is no cure for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, but is treatable, because effective treatment can reduce the number of obsessive thoughts and compulsive rituals. Usually, the treatment consists in a combination of medications and behavior therapy, and offers true effective results for a long period. In the behavior therapy category, enters a therapy called exposure and response prevention, and it is considered the basic treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In this treatment, you are repeatedly exposed to the source of your obsession. By doing this, you are prevented to engage any compulsive ritual you use to reduce the anxiety brought by your obsession. If you are a compulsive hand washer, you are asked to touch the door handle in a public restroom and then be prevented from washing up. The need to wash your hand it will disappear gradually on its own by getting used with the anxiety provoked by the obsession. In this way, you learn that you don’t need the ritual to get rid of your anxiety. Exposure treatment and response prevention is a planned out and controlled therapy, with a therapist supporting it. The patient will begin experimenting a low level of anxiety, and after the he had been exposed to the situation, it will move on to a more challenging situation. With each successful exposure and response prevention, he will feel a greater sense of control over his obsessions and compulsions. This type of behavioral therapy can even extinguish compulsive behaviors entirely. Another way to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is by using medication. A part of this treatment is considered to be antidepressants. Antidepressants that affect the neurotransmitter serotonin are the primary drugs used in the treatment of the disease. Antidepressants that affect both norepinephrine and serotonin are also effective.

This medication can take ten to twenty weeks to be effective, so that’s why is important that the patient follow a full three month trial, and usually higher than those needed to treat depression. It is generally recommended that medication be combined with behavior therapy. Other medication treatments which are considered effective are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and clomipramine. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors used to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder include Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, and Zoloft. These medications increase the level of serotonin in the brain. These medications also provoke side effects like decreased sex drive, nausea, agitation, and sleepiness. Clomipramine, which is found in pharmacies is a tricyclic antidepressant used to treat the disease. It works by inhibiting the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin. It is a more effective treatment than the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,  but it also produce more side effects including sleepiness, dry mouth, decreased sex drive, constipation, and difficulty urinating. Weight gain is also a serious problem to be considered. Other types of treating the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are usually applied like family therapy, group therapy, herbal treatments such as kava, valerian, ginkgo biloba, and psychosurgery which involve removing a section of the brain called the cingulate cortex.