What Is OCD?
OCD or Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a type of condition in which your constant obsessions over certain things lead to irrational and sometimes obsessive behavior. It’s not the same as double-checking to see if you locked your car door or making sure that you packed your child’s lunch for school. These are for simple reassurance.
People with OCD are aware that their obsessive behaviors don’t make sense. However, they can’t stop them from happening.
What Are The Symptoms of OCD?
OCD is usually characterized by obsession and compulsion. These two types of behaviors have a cause-and-effect relationship. The unwanted obsessive thoughts you have about certain things often lead you to compulsive behaviors to help you deal with them.
Symptoms of obsession include:
- Worrying about dirt getting on your hands or clothes
- Continually thinking about germs in your house
- Thinking about acting violently towards someone
- Wondering if you’ve left an appliance plugged in at home and worrying incessantly over it
Symptoms of compulsion include:
- Triple checking to see if you’ve locked everything in your house before you left and calling someone to check for you
- Washing your hands multiple times in one sitting
- Avoiding touching certain people or things, so you don’t come in contact with germs
- Making sure that everything is in a specific order each time you start a task
What Causes OCD?
Doctors are not sure of the direct cause of OCD, but some potential factors include:
- If a family member has OCD, you could possibly develop the disorder
- Trauma inducing events may spark the development of OCD
- Some parts of your brain may not be responding to serotonin production
- Serotonin is a chemical that’s produced by your brain that helps nerve cells communicate
Treating OCD
OCD can be complicated to deal with daily. At Interpersonal Psychiatry, we offer different ways to treat OCD and help you manage your symptoms. Treatment options include:
- Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
- This type of therapy sends magnetic waves to your brain that can change your mood and encourage motivation
- Prescribing Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Through our Psychiatric Medication Management program, we prescribe the correct dosage of SSRIs to you and guide you through your treatment
- SSRIs help regulate the amount of serotonin produced in your body, helping relieve your OCD symptoms
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT
- This type of therapy helps you recognize the negative thoughts and emotions you’re having and how they affect your behavior
As you learn about how those negative feelings are affecting your daily life, we teach you techniques to help you manage them
Techniques include:
- SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-based)
- Participating in positive activities
- Doing some journaling to help you relieve negative thoughts
- Ketamine Infusion Therapy
- This type of therapy will stimulate neuron growth in your brain that will bring about feelings of relaxation and peacefulness
- OCD related symptoms are known to go away in minutes and help increase your overall quality of life