Impulse Control & Addiction Disorders
Impulse Control & Addiction Disorder Medications
Personality Disorder Treatment
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Treatment
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, better known as OCD, is a fairly common mental disorder that affects people to varying degrees. OCD is marked by obsessing over thoughts and fears that then present compulsive behaviours where you believe you have to do certain things or perform certain actions. You become anxious and restless until you give in to your compulsion that was set off by your obsessive thought.
While OCD is not a life-threatening illness, it can take total control of your life. People with extreme cases of OCD are not able to function normally, hold down a job, and perform other basics of life. Therefore, it is important to seek treatment if you are expressing behaviour typical of OCD.
Because OCD is a condition of the mind, medications are the most common treatment. More specifically, different types of antidepressants are typically used to treat OCD. However, while antidepressants have been the preferred treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder for some time now, it remains unclear how or why they work. Here are the different types of antidepressants that are commonly used to treat OCD.
Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are antidepressants that stimulate serotonin receptors in the brain. It is suspected that by stimulating these receptors, your brain calms down and is not as prone to anxious thoughts. Fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, and fluvoxamine are currently the preferred SSRIs for treating OCD.
While SSRIs are used more commonly than SNRIs, the latter drugs can be just as effective for treating OCD. In addition to stimulating the serotonin receptors in the brain, SNRIs also increase norepinephrine in the brain. By doing this, SNRIs help you feel calm rather than anxious and prone to obsessive thoughts. Venlafaxine, duloxetine, milnacipran, and desvenlafaxine are the most common SNRIs for OCD.
In addition to SNRIs and SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants are another viable option for OCD. TCAs work very similarly to SSRIs and SNRIs in that they increase serotonin levels in the brain and help you feel calm and obsession-free. Currently, the only TCA approved to treat OCD is clomipramine.
There are many different medications you can use to treat OCD, and each one will have different side effects. In general, however, all antidepressants will have several of the following side effects.
Aside from medications, psychotherapy is the other most effective treatment for people with OCD. Psychotherapy typically consists of counselling, social support, and cognitive behavioural therapy. Counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy are performed with a professional psychiatrist or psychologist, while social support will be ongoing.
The goal of psychotherapy is to help someone with OCD overcome their obsessions and not give in to their compulsions. To do this, psychotherapy helps you control the thoughts and desires that make you feel forced to give in to OCD. Once you learn to master these feelings, you’re less likely to give in to your obsessions and compulsions.
Living with OCD can be very frustrating for you and those around you. Therefore, you should do everything you can to seek treatment and help for your condition. Through various forms of therapy and the right medications, you can overcome your OCD and not let it control every aspect of your life.