Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Co-existing OCD And Addiction

Due to the mental and emotional pain OCD inflicts on its sufferers, some can end up self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. Many movies and television shows tend to portray OCD sufferers as nervous, hyper-organized but generally overall healthy. This is however not the case in real life,OCD tends to disrupt people’s homes, family lives, and work.

Coping with OCD obsessions can be tiring. Many find that self-medicating with drugs provides a short relief. This often leads to repeated abuse when these thoughts and urges arise. If this continues for a while, alcohol and drug abuse can take shape.

Treating OCD and Addiction

The most successful way to beat co-occurring addiction and OCD is treating them both at the same time. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in treating both drug addiction and OCD. It is a mental health form of counseling that teaches people with OCD to cope with their unwanted feelings and thoughts that lead to drug abuse.

Antidepressant medication is also used to treat OCD symptoms. It is important to keep in mind that addiction is a mental illness. OCD’s symptoms can be treated with medication, however, overcoming addiction will need constant attention to avoid relapse.

OCD Treatment Challenges

In some situations, OCD goes underdiagnosed and undertreated even though it is a relatively common illness. This is a result of barriers to success in Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Some of these reasons are;

•         Hiding symptoms– Many people tend to hide their symptoms and refuse to seek help. Many people don’t know that it is treatable while others are embarrassed about their condition. OCD Is a medical condition like diabetes or asthma and there should be no stigma to it.
•         Fear of change– Change can be difficult as it takes courage to make a change. This is so if the compulsions and obsessions have existed for a long while. Many people will be afraid to get help as they feel a sense of familiarity and comfort associated with their current coping mechanisms over their symptoms. Control may be quite difficult to give up, however, living with the untreated disease is far more challenging.
•     Difficulties with a diagnosis– Not all physicians and clinicians in mental health are aware of how to diagnose and treat OCD. At routine checkups, many fail to ask questions directed at the patient’s mental health. Some professionals, including some psychiatrists, even lack training in recognizing and treating OCD

Medication For OCD

Medication is an effective way to treat OCD. To work, they must be taken regularly and as directed by the doctor. Research has shown that a type of drug called a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) is effective in addressing OCD symptoms. 

The following antidepressants have been noted to work well in relieving OCD symptoms:

• fluvoxamine (Luvox®)
• fluoxetine (Prozac®)
• sertraline (Zoloft®)
• Paroxetine (Paxil®)
• Citalopram (Celexa®)
• Clomipramine (Anafranil®)
• Escitalopram (Lexapro®)
• Venlafaxine (Effexor®)

These medications work by boosting the hormone in the brain called serotonin.This is a key mood stabilizer that also helps with proper sleep patterns. Low levels of Serotonin may lead to depression and anxiety.

There might be side effects experienced while taking these kinds of drugs. These side effects can be managed by adjusting the dose or changing what time the drug is taken. 

Other Treatment Options For OCD

A few intensive residential programs have been developed such as Intensive outpatient and residential treatment programs which focus on interdisciplinary care. This incorporates the joint expertise of health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, social workers and occupational therapists to actualize individualized treatment plans that aim at managing OCD symptoms that are difficult to treat using standard therapies

When OCD patients do not benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, medication or a combination of the two, Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has emerged as a new option for OCD treatment. TMS is a non-invasive procedure that stimulates the brain using magnetic fields.