January 16, 2021

IS THERE A KNOWN CURE FOR OCD?

Many people are affected by this obsession, according to BBC Health statistics, 1 out of every 50 people in the United States are diagnosed with OCD. This disorder has left many people alone without support from loved ones. However, this disorder requires all support from family and friends. However, it is important that you fully understand what OCD is, in order to have a better quality of life.

OCD is a mental illness like all others. According to Owen Kelly, PhD, there is no known form of cure for this illness. Although regular medication taken might help attenuate or probably remove all symptoms associated with OCD. This medication seems to be only a temporary solution to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as the symptom might return if medication is no longer used.

This, however, does not mean there is no effective treatment to treat OCD patients. Although this treatment differs and works differently for every patient. Patients if not totally cured will enjoy the benefit of being relieved from the disappointment. These treatments will be discussed in detail later in this article.

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Obsessive compulsion disorder, it’s a popular, incessant, and long-lasting disorder. They are always characterized by two things – Obsession and Compulsion. Obsession is when you have these thoughts, mental images, or urges which keeps repeating itself over and over in our minds while Compulsion is a behavioural act which is done to avoid or cope with these uncontrollable thoughts.

Individual diagnosed with OCD have obsessive doubt and worries. These obsessions tend to affect their quality of life. OCD is a mental illness, it is addressed as a brain disorder because many have found their brain repeating an event, thought or impulse over and over again.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

Patients have the symptoms to be Obsessive, compulsion or both. These symptoms affect your efficiency in every aspects and level of life.

Examples of obsession

Fear of germs
Violent thoughts toward children, friends, family or oneself
Urge to make blasphemous utterances
Thoughts about inappropriate things – sex with animals or pastor’s wife.

Examples of Compulsion

Excess sanitization or frequent hand washing
Addicted to making arrangement in a precise manner
Frequently checking up on things like if lights are off, car doors are locked or if the ovens are off.

Frequently checking up on things doesn’t mean you have Obsessive compulsion disorder, it okay to double-check things. However, if you always feel bothered about these things then you probably have Obsessive compulsion disorder. For more information checkout my guide on HOW TO IDENTIFY OCD

Symptoms Of OCD

TREATMENT

Treating OCD only help make you feel better and free from the uncontrollable repeated thoughts in our minds. OCD is treated using medication, therapy or both. These treatments do not cure mental illness but help in achieving a better quality of life.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

The very first step in getting cured of this illness is taking a behavioural therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This therapy makes use of exposure and response prevention technique. In this Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), patients are exposed to that event that triggers their fear. This is done to help remove their response to that thought, mental images or urges.

An appropriate instant will be someone who fears germs would spend more time with material that has quite a lots of them without him sanitizing his hand afterwards. Another is one who hates to see things unkempt or not in a regular pattern can spend lots of time in an unorganized environment, without giving a chance to rearrange them.

CBT combines both Cognitive and Behavioral therapy, so patients can see that their ritual does not help in preventing any chaos which might occur. This combination deals with the thoughts behind the fear or urges itself.

Medication

A medical professional with experience with OCD patients prescribes SSRIs drugs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) most times. Popular SSRIs drug brands are Zoloft, Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, and Anafranil, they help increase the level of serotonin in the body system.

When undergoing medication therapy, it takes about 8 – 10 weeks before you start noticing significant changes, but some patient, however, stated they noticed changes starting within 3 – 4 weeks after they started medication.

Equally important medication therapy has side effects, unlike CBT therapy. Nausea, Insomnia, restlessness, diarrhoea, sedation, weight gain, dry mouth, and dizziness are all side effect of using SSRIs drugs.

Summary