OCD Treatment - What Are Your Options

jazzynfo | Oct 5, 2009 |

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Suffering from a serious condition such as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can literally ruin your life in all of its aspects. The anxiety and discomfort, the high levels of stress and the performance of rituals are just the main symptoms the sufferers experience. If the condition is untreated, the severity of the symptoms will increase with the majority of people starting to have suicidal thoughts and some actually attempting suicide. Sufferers should face the problem openly - it is possible to find help and choose from a number of OCD treatment options.

Taking medications is the most obvious choice that the majority of physicians will recommend. At present the most widely prescribed medications are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). They act by blocking serotonin reuptake in the brain, which is supposed to result in the improvement of the work of brain cells that have been negatively affected by OCD. The disadvantage of taking medications only is that they have a short term effect - once you stop with this OCD treatment, the symptoms are more than likely to reoccur. Furthermore, although the side effects of SSRIs are generally described as mild and not very common, they can be potentially harmful to the health. Insomnia, agitation, constant tiredness and nausea are just some of the most common conditions caused by taking the medications.

Alternatively, sufferers can rely on an herbal OCD treatment. There are a number of options with the most popular one being St. John's Wort. The extract from the plant has shown to be efficient in relieving depression and other OCD symptoms. Several studies have shown that it works as well as SSRIs or even better. However, this herbal medication has not been approved as an OCD treatment and not all sufferers find it helpful. Other herbs such as Passiflora, Kava-Kava and Ginkgo Biloba are also widely used to complement the treatment with standard drugs. Still, you are highly recommended not to take any herbal cures before discussing it with a physician specializing in treating such medical conditions. They might also have harmful side effects especially in combination with SSRIs.

Psychotherapy and the cognitive-behavioral therapy in particular is another OCD treatment option. It has been scientifically proven that the condition is not purely neurotic and that this type of relief actually works. The cognitive-behavioral therapy has two main objectives - to change both thoughts and maniacal behaviors. There is a wide range of techniques used as part of the treatment with the exposure and ritual prevention one being successful in 80% of the cases. The psychotherapy is efficient and has long term positive results especially compared to the use of medications. It can help even people whose OCD symptoms prevent them from leaving their homes as online counseling is also efficient. The only disadvantage of undertaking cognitive-behavioral therapy is that it is relatively slow to give the desired results.

Sufferers from obsessive compulsive disorder can choose between the different OCD treatment options, although it might turn out to be extremely beneficial to complement them. In fact, the most modern methods include both psychotherapy and the taking of OCD medications.