Psychological Treatments For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder treatments come in many forms. There are times that clinicians cannot fully treat these obsessions. That is why clinicians will do their best to manage the disorders properly. In a lot of cases, the patient will learn how to manage his anxiety and prevents himself to indulge in ritualistic or compulsive behaviors.
It will take some time to treat OCD because the obsessions are already embedded in the mind and it can be hard to distract the mind of a person. Anxiety is produced from these obsessions. In order to reduce anxiety, the person will perform compulsive behavior. There are two levels of difficulties during the treatment. Fist difficulty will appear if the person will be habitual in reducing his or her anxiety through compulsions. The second difficulty will appear if the clinician will stop the person to perform compulsion after the obsession will occur.
There are different therapies and techniques associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder treatments.
Pharmacological Treatment – some researches have shown that there is a neurotransmitter serotonin involved in OCD. Low levels of serotonin will produce compulsions and obsessions in a person. Once this happens, serotonin reuptake inhibitors will be recommended by the psychiatrists.
Psychotherapies – obsessive-compulsive disorder treatments can also make use of various psychotherapies. The first thing that a clinician will do is to psychoeducation the patient and his or her family about the OCD. This consists of developing their full awareness when it comes to psychological problems. Every time a person is psychoeducation regarding OCD, that person will be fully aware of the causes, symptoms, and different obsessive-compulsive disorder treatments.
A lot of clinicians will make use of relaxation therapy as a treatment for OCD. The clinicians will teach the person to calm down in this type of therapy. Self-instruction or self-talk is the technique that can be very beneficial for a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The person will talk to himself or herself in order to be guided in self-talk or self-instruction. This will also help prevent the person to perform compulsions.
Family therapy is also one of the many obsessive-compulsive disorder treatments. There are a lot of reasons why family therapy is given to a patient. People with OCD are already a victim in social events for their repetitive behavior but there are times that the family cannot provide support to the patient. during family therapy, the members of the family will be instructed to empathize and provide support to the patient.
ERP or Exposure Response Prevention is among the most famous psychotherapies. The patient during this therapy will be exposed to anxiety-provoking conditions like the patient will be asked to touch the door handle but will not be allowed to wash his hands after. This way, the anxiety of the patient will automatically diminish and he or she will learn that compulsive behaviors are not required to reduce anxiety.
Hypnotism can also be used in order to minimize the symptoms of OCD. Hypnotism will try to reduce the certain realistic behaviors with the use of some instructions. Cognitive therapy can also be used to alter the interpretations or meanings of compulsions and obsessions. Patients will usually consider their obsessions as dangerous that can harm them.