The Promising Therapy of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Term Paper Example

Sana Osman English 9 December 2008 The promising treatment of OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Obsession Compulsive Disorder or OCD is an anxiety disorder. Here a person has unwanted and persistent ideas or inclinations and an impulse to do something in order to relieve discomfort caused to them by obsessions. Obsession Compulsive Disorder affects almost 3 million Americans each year. OCD usually begins in adolescence or the beginning of adulthood. It causes feelings of extreme fear, panic, and guilt, and forces the patient to perform certain actions. OCD can reach dangerous levels and affect a person's home life, career and relationships, especially when it is left untreated. "Researches have found that one-third to one-half of OCD cases identified in adults began during childhood" (Hyman and Pedrick 16). Most of the causes of OCD are biological. "About half of all the people with OCD experience the symptoms in childhood. Among children, twice as many boys than girls demonstrate characteristics of OCD. For others, the disorder begins in adolescence or early adulthood. Interestingly, by adulthood, the male female ratio is almost fifty-fifty." (Boyles and Contadino 233). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has a variety of symptoms like contamination symptoms, symptoms related to performing tasks and intrusive fears and thoughts. Along with this symptoms can be of violent or aggressive thoughts, and inappropriate sexual thoughts. "Although people appear to be distinct dimensions in OCD, it should be noted that most patients report multiple symptoms that cut across dimensions" (Swinson 7). With obsessions, "there are three common themes: unwanted thoughts of aggression/harm, unwanted sexual thoughts, and blasphemous thoughts" (De Silva and Rachman 4). In layman's language the symptoms include, some patients fear the presence of body secretions like sweat and saliva. Some symptoms related to performing actions repeatedly can be specific counting patterns or repeatedly washing the hands or clearing the throat. Some people suffer with repeatedly getting unpleasant and involuntary thoughts and images, usually a result of depression. Some people suffer with repeatedly violent thoughts like jumping off a bride or a train or even hurting a child. Sometimes people suffer from inappropriate sexual thoughts like kissing, fondling, oral sex intercourse or anal sex with parents, strangers, friends or even children. This usually happens when the sufferer doubts his or her sexual ability. Scientists believe that the causes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are both biological and psychological. Biologically it is believed that there is some abnormality with the neurotransmitter serotonin of the patient that causes OCD. Psychologists believe that OCD is caused by anxiety provoking intrusive thoughts. Some studies have proved that OCD can also be caused due to nutrition deficiencies. There is no complete cure for OCD, however, there are some treatments to help people suffering with OCD. In the past, people suffering from OCD did not have any medical or psychological help, they had to fight their symptoms on their own, which caused most patients to live in pain. Today treatment is available and a person suffering from OCD to seek early treatment. The early treatment is started the less are the chances of a person developing complications from the illness. However, "most writers simply discount the possibility that the outcome can be influenced by treatment" (Mavissakalian, Tuner and Michelson 29). The first line treatments for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy and medication. One of the most effective methods of treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder if Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is done on a one to one basis or within a group setting assisted by a trained specialist. It is usually the first step of treatment for OCD patients, especially children. The only proven form of psychotherapy for OCD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a highly affective form of treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a psychotherapeutic method that aims at influencing dysfunctional and problematic emotions, behaviors and cognitions, through a systematic goal-oriented method. Cognitive Therapy came into existence about forty years ago, however in the beginning it was not considered very effective. The basis of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is that it focuses on changing the thought process of a patient by modifying behavior. The patient is slowly exposed to the obsession, this causes fear in the patient, and then the patient is told not to engage in behavior that is compulsive. The patient usually experience less anxiety, as the patient realizes nothing bad is happening. This is done through repeated sessions and increased exposure. "There is one further thing that Cognitive Therapy can teach you whatever your disorder-that is, how to accept your self as simply the ordinary, mistake-making human being you are" (Penzel 21) It is noticed that after continuing treatment, 50 per cent to 80 per cent patients cease to have any compulsive behavior. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps patients alter their negative styles of behavior and thinking that a usually associated with anxiety which is involved with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Behavioral Therapy is similar to Cognitive Therapy. The technique used in Behavioral Therapy is known as Exposure and Ritual Prevention or Exposure and Response Prevention or ERP. Exposure and Response Prevention involves slowly developing tolerance against the anxiety and not performing the ritual action. ERP encourages patients to expose themselves to their obsessions, and then prevent themselves from using their compulsions like repeatedly washing hands, this helps them get rid of the resulting anxiety. These thoughts are introduced to a patient on a regular basis resulting in what is called habituation. The resultant is that when you remain in the presence of your fears for a long period of time, soon you will see that no harm of any kind is done. With ERP a patient tests his own fearful predictions, to see what actually happens when the patient does not avoid what he fears. The result is that the patient gradually develops tolerance for what he fears. For example, a person leaving the house and checking the lock only once, this is exposure, the person not going back to check the lock is ritual prevention. With this method the person soon realizes that the anxiety levels have dropped as he quickly get used to the anxiety producing situation. Gradually patients progress to not performing the ritual behavior like, checking the lock at all. Exposure and Ritual Prevention treatment is another very affective way of treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is also considered as the only type of Behavioral Therapy that is effective in treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. ERP treatment continues from many weeks to months depending on the severity of OCD in a patient. "It seems very likely that ERP reduces patients' overestimation of the likelihood and severity of danger or harm from feared obsessive situations" (Barlow 546). Patients often enquire whether Behavioral Therapy can completely cure obsessions. With Behavioral Therapy obsessions can definitely be lowered by lowering the anxiety and stress levels. However, it cannot be guaranteed. Obsessions usually occur even after the Therapy, but the intensity is definitely reduced. After Therapy suffers do not need to react compulsively and fearfully in ways that impact their life, as they achieve an ability to tolerate their thoughts. Behavioral Therapists usually treat themselves examples for their patients. They model for their patients, share their own feelings, and get more self-disclosing and involved. Behavioral Therapists not only talk to patients, they also share experiences, successes and failures, humor and laughter and many other sentiments, which make them a part of the patient's life. There are medical treatments also available to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Medical treatments like the other treatments can reduce the effects of OCD in a patient. It is best to use medical treatments in combination with other treatments, as they are more effective. One effective drug that is used to treat OCD is Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, also known as SSRIs. SSRIs increase the levels of Serotonin in the brain, by doing so it improves the mood of a person and also reduces levels of anxiety. It is common to have low levels of Serotonin if you are a patient of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. SSRIs do have a few side effects, however, they are safe for the long term treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. "SSRIs have fewer side effects than clomipramine, an older medication that is actually thought to be somewhat more effective in treating OCD" (Medicine Net 2008) Tranquilizers are also used in the treatment of patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Tranquilizers are usually used for patients with severe OCD. Tranquilizers are used to relax the muscles in the body, this result in reducing the compulsive urges of a patient. Tranquilizers can be addictive, therefore, they should be used only for a short period of time. In extreme cases of OCD, a surgery called psychosurgery is performed. An extreme case of OCD is when the symptoms of OCD do not react to any other kind of treatment and become very dangerous. Today psychosurgery is used instead of the lobotomy procedure which usually resulted in memory loss and brain damage in patients. With psychosurgery certain parts of the brain are altered or disabled using an electrode. Magnetics resonance imaging is used in psychosurgery to select a suitable part of the brain for surgery. It is found that more than one third of patients who undergo psychosurgery show drastic improvements in their OCD. Inositol is another drug used to treat OCD. It works similar to SSRIs. Inositol however does not have any side effects like SSRIs. In practice patients that used Inositol showed dramtic improvements when compared to patients who used SSRIs. Another method of treating OCD is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). TMS has also shown many positive results in treating people with OCD. In this treatment, magnetic pulses are concentrated on the brain's supplementary motor area (SMA), which filters out extraneous internal stimuli, such as obsessions and ruminations. The treatment of TMS attempts to normalize the SMA's activity, so that it can filter out thoughts and behavior related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Another method of treating OCD is St. John's Wort. St. John's Wort has proven to benefit many patients. This is because of it non-selective serotonin re-uptake restraining character. According to studies St. John's Wort has shown positive results in many patients. This method is used for patients with mild OCD. "Studies provide a solid basis for the therapeutic use of St. John's Wort in the treatment of mild to moderate depression" (Rahman 643). It has been noticed that some people suffering with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder also find that exercise, natural stress relievers and meditation also help reduce anxiety levels and help treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Also, some vitamin and mineral supplements can also help in the treatment of OCD as it is also caused by nutrition deficiencies. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is now considered to be a very chronic and serious ailment. OCD today affects more than 2.5 per cent of the world's population. Though the last ten years have seen a lot of progress on the behavioral and pharmacological fronts, less than 50 per cent of the people suffering from OCD show improvements from the treatment available at present. Many people suffer Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in isolation, these people do not even know that their disorder has a name and how to get treated. Morbid obsessions with germs, sex, with one's appearance and compulsions to objects which cannot be controlled , to check and recheck locks, to wash one hands repeatedly, to pulls one's hair, or even getting violent and hurting someone, are all a part of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Works cited Barlow, David H., Anxiety and Its Disorders: The Nature and Treatment of Anxiety and Panic, Guilford Press, 2004 Boyles, Nancy S. and Darlene Contadino, The Learning Differences Sourcebook, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1997 De Silva, Padmal and Stanley Rachman, Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: The Facts, Oxford University Press, 2004 Hyman, Bruce and Cherry Pedrick, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Twenty-First Century Books, 2003 Mavissakalian, Matig, Samuel M. Turner and Larry Mechelson, Obsessive-compulsive Disorder: Psychological and Pharmacological Treatment, Springer, 1985 Medicine Net, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, 2008 http://www.medicinenet.com/obsessive_compulsive_disorder_ocd/page2.htm#treatment Penzel, Fred, Obsessive-compulsive Disorders: A Complete Guide to Getting Well and Staying Well, United States, Oxford University Press, 2000 Rahman, Atta-Ur, Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, Elsevier, 1988 Swinson, Richard P., Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Theory, Research, and Treatment, Guilford Press, 2001 Read More