OCD Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an extremely common anxiety disorder that impacts millions of people every year. Most estimates indicate that around two to three percent of people have to deal with OCD in some shape or form over the course of their lives; however, some estimates point to as much as five percent of the population encountering the condition at some point over the course of their lives.

While OCD is not curable at the present time, countless treatment options exist for dealing with it in a manageable, legitimate manner. By properly educating one’s self on what choices are available and what the pluses and negatives of those choices are, sufferers can make the right decisions for themselves and lead relatively normal lives despite their condition.

Although there are many recognized treatment options for OCD, the two most well-known ones are psychotherapy and medication.

The most recognizable psychotherapeutically utilized treatment option is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This process, fundamentally, is centered on adjusting the thought processes of sufferers so as to make sure their ideas and emotions aren’t as severely impacted by the rituals and compulsions that can dominate so much of their days.

The best-known CBT approach is exposure and response prevention, which features slowly but surely exposing the sufferer to objects that they fear, until they become comfortable with them. There is no specific amount of time for how long this can last, but studies show that this tends to work moreso over the long term than the short term.

On the other hand, medicinal options also exist for people who want a speedier, more efficient means of treating the disorder. As per The Food and Drug Administration, approved medicinal options that are used to treat OCD include, but aren’t limited to: Anafranil, Luvox, Prozac, Paxil, Pexeva and Zoloft. That being said, other medications do exist and can be effective, so it is important to consult with a physician if this is the route that a given sufferer decides is best for them.

Again, both of these methods of dealing with OCD come with their own sets of positives and negatives, so whichever one a given person chooses depends largely on what they hope to get out of the treatment.