Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder where an individual feels the need to repeat thoughts and experiences in a recurring manner. The condition is very common and is usually long lasting and can be chronic. Symptoms include obsessive behavior that might eventually cause anxiety and can go into disrupting the life of the individual. These include activities such as handwashing and constantly cleaning all the time while looking for dirt. Although many people have routines and particular ways of doing things, it is OCD if it is disruptive to the regular way of daily life. Nevertheless, OCD can be controlled if not entirely treated.
OCD And the Effective Therapies for it
People suffering from OCD get thoughts are persistent and unwanted. They thus also have to indulge in the activities otherwise they will be stressed out for a long time. Interestingly, some of people suffering from OCD know that their obsessions are irrational while others thing that they could be true (Kaczkurkin, 2015) . Nevertheless, they are mostly helpless and find it difficult to stop their obsessions and compulsive actions. In America, around 1.3% of the population suffers from the condition where slightly more women suffer from it. The symptoms of this disorder start growing in many individuals when they are around 19 years of age.
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For there to be an effective diagnosis of OCD, the obsessions have to be time consuming, causing major distress and impairing the individual’s participation in social and professional activities (Lack, 2012) . These obsessions cannot be stopped by logic or reasoning and at times, the individual suffering from them has to try suppressing or ignoring it. The common examples of obsessions in today’s world include concern about contamination, symmetry and in some instances, prohibited religious thoughts among many others (Lack, 2012) . Compulsions are activities which the individual suffering from the condition has to indulge in order for them to relax in a particular situation.
For instance, a particular sound could be so scary that to push it off, an individual has to do something such as cleaning in order to not be scared by it. Although the individual might know that the fear is irrational, it is hard for him to ignore it (Kelly, 2017) . Despite the fact that this activity might provide relief in the situation, it leads to a dependable cycle. Common compulsions include constant cleaning, repeatedly dispelling anxiety and ordering and arranging things amongst others.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT is a type of psychotherapy that has been effectively used to treat people that were suffering from OCD. One type of CBT is known as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) which involves subjecting the individual to that which he fears most in a slow but gradual manner (Lovell, Bower, & Gellatly, 2017) . For instance, a person that is scared by the mere thought of dirt can be taken from a place with none, the to another with some dust before he can be taken to mud. When implemented well, it will be effective and will make sure that it is possible for him to healthily cope with their anxiety.
Theoretically, CBT is supposed to cut the cycle that OCD gets to survive on. This cycle includes obsession, anxiety, compulsion and then release. By changing the way the individual sees the world it becomes easy for them to act on their thoughts and habits thus stop being obsessed over anything (Kaczkurkin, 2015) . They can instead move into being productive. The slow and gradual introduction of the individual into the new world is important because it helps him restructure his thinking pattern and view the particular obsessions anew. Although ERP is effective, it takes a lot of work and practice.
There are those that are not ready to directly jump into the ERP thanks to their anxiety. These have to use visualization or Imaginal Exposure as a step that begins before the more willing and deliberate move to ERP (Lovell, Bower, & Gellatly, 2017) . The therapist should be able to create a virtual environment so that it can elicit some magnitude of anxiety thanks to the routine situation in question. Habituating the discomfort goes on to reduce the anxiety that they experience over time (Kelly, 2017) . In due time, the individual’s state of mind will have become desensitized and it will be much easier for them to move into experiencing the situation in real life. It is at this juncture that the next stage, ERP, comes into play.
Habit Reverse Training
Habit reverse training is one which focuses on the problem that the individual has when it comes to certain situations and perceptions and then reverse how he reacts to it. The individual gets to become aware of situation, the therapist slowly helps him provide a competing response and through social support, enable positive reinforcement through relaxation techniques often (Kelly, 2017) . The purpose of this therapy is to improve the individual’s awareness and therefore provide chances of him intervening and making changes. The patient and the therapist have to work together effectively if they are to find an appropriate competing response for the issue at the time. This is a process that takes a lot of time and honest practice (Lovell, Bower, & Gellatly, 2017) . The support of the family and other loved ones is also critically important for the case in question.
Cognitive Therapy
Cognitive therapy is one that helps an individual be able to identify when the brain sends error messages to the patient. With the therapist, it will become possible to recognize these error messages and thus resist from indulging in the obsessions and compulsions that they bring along (Lovell, Bower, & Gellatly, 2017) . Instead of the experiences themselves, cognitive therapy helps one understand what he relates with specific experiences and thus why he reacts like he does. For instance, a classmate not saying hi could be interpreted as an act of hate tot the victim while in reality that could be far from the case (Kaczkurkin, 2015) . An individual can be trained to identify this situation and find a better approach to the issue other than that.
Medically Assisted OCD Therapy
OCD therapy can be assisted by drugs since there are instances when it does not work on its own. In some instances, the therapy can be supplemented by medications. This medication is supposed to be in the form of antidepressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). Example of such medication include sertraline, fluvoxamine and citalopram (Lack, 2012) . The physicians have to revert to clomipramine in the case that the patient does not respond to the SSRI. Although it is equally effective it has side effects such as sleepiness, difficulty in urination and a dry mouth. Despite cognitive therapy being the best treatment for the illness, many other patients continue performing well when combining the medication to the therapy.
Conclusion
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental health condition where a specific situation pushes an individual to think about something repeatedly and start indulging some compulsions. For instance, a person could thing about dirt on the floor and how it could impact her a lot of times in the day and this could push her into cleaning the spot very many times a day to the point of not doing anything else. It is a common condition that is chronic. The condition is also best handled through therapy, in particular CBT and ERP. However, there are other therapeutic solutions that are continuously being developed. These include imaginal exposure, habit reversal training and cognitive therapy.
References
Kaczkurkin, A. N. (2015). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: an update on the empirical evidence. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience , 337.
Kelly, O. (2017, August 10). Psychological Therapy for OCD . Retrieved from verywellmind.com: https://www.verywellmind.com/psychological-therapy-for-ocd-2510628
Lack, C. W. (2012). Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Evidence-based treatments and future directions for research. World Journal of Psychiatry , 86-90.
Lovell, K., Bower, P., & Gellatly, J. (2017). Low-intensity cognitive-behaviour therapy interventions for obsessive-compulsive disorder compared to waiting list for therapist-led cognitive-behaviour therapy: 3-arm randomised controlled trial of clinical effectiveness. PLoS medicine .
