Can OCD be cured?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental health disorder that affects thought patterns and behavior. The affected person has unwanted thoughts that urge him to do a certain repetitive behavior to minimize the stress. OCD can be extremely upsetting for life. However, if you want to know more then read this article. You will get a complete insight whether is obsessive-compulsive disorder curable or not. Moreover, you will also get detailed information that how can you overcome OCD and a lot more facts about OCD.
What is obsessive-compulsive disorder?
OCD stands for Obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is a common mental illness that involves the occurrence of unwanted thoughts in the mind that disrupt the person’s mood. Individuals with OCD also get involved in compulsive behavior and consider them useful methods to get rid of their anxious thoughts. Individuals with OCD get stuck in their emotions, thoughts, perceptions, and their unexpected sudden behavior. The obsessions are time-consuming and therefore affected individuals also face difficulty in managing their time. Until they perform a compulsive behavior, they never feel satisfaction.
OCD is not restricted to any individual as people of all ages can get suffer from OCD. The complete recovery of OCD is not possible. However, by adapting different preventive strategies, you can take charge of your mental health and manage the symptoms of OCD to live a healthier and happier life.
Various recent studies have reported the fact that about one in every third of individuals suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The occurrence of OCD symptoms is more common in women as compared to men. Moreover, the onset of OCD symptoms becomes more evident in the teenage years and can persist to adulthood stages.
Learn More: Decrypting the Relationship: Does OCD Cause Depression?
What are the Symptoms of OCD?
Obsessions and compulsions are the common OCD symptoms. Each individual is different and exhibits a variety of OCD symptoms which can directly alter the functioning of normal life.
Obsessions
Obsessions include some thoughts such as:
- Fear of getting contamination
- Fear of getting any injury or infectious disease
- Thoughts of hurting themselves or others
- Distorted thoughts to get symmetry
Although obsessions are of different types a common individual gets stuck in a specific type of obsessive thought. But this situation never remains permanent as in most cases, the obsessive thoughts also change and new thoughts develop in the minds of individuals.
Compulsions
OCD compulsions are the repetitive behaviors of individuals. They think they can overcome their stress or anxiety by repeating a certain activity or behavior. For example, the compulsive behavior of checking the locks again and again leads to the thinking in mind that they can prevent something bad from happening by doing this. However, this is just their thought and nothing else. The most common compulsions include:
Cleaning a specific object
Counting things again
Checking the doors or windows
Checking the stove
How does OCD work?
A normal person can easily control their thoughts. However, individuals with OCD face difficulty in handling their thoughts and emotions. All the obsessive thoughts involuntarily appear in their mind and become more severe with time. If left untreated then their obsessive thoughts turn into anxiety or depression. Therefore the cycle of OCD continues and affects the life quality.
What are the Causes of OCD?
The exact cause of OCD is not known. However, some researchers have reported the most common causes of OCD symptoms which are as follows:
Different studies have explained the fact that genes responsible for OCD can transfer from parent to child. Therefore genetic predisposition is considered a major factor in the development of obsessive compulsive disorder.
Moreover, serotonin is also a major hormone that is involved in the onset of OCD symptoms. Their reduced levels can increase the probability of OCD in individuals.
Learn More: OCD Symptoms Checklist: Causes and Treatment
Is OCD curable?
There is not a complete cure for OCD. However, some methods can be used to overcome OCD. At Brainpower Wellness Institute, our experts employ a combination of psychotropic medications and psychotherapy to treat OCD. As OCD greatly manifests in teenagers, therefore different talk therapies can assist them in getting rid of OCD. Likewise, our experts recommend different psychiatric medications to manage the OCD symptoms and prevent them from affecting your life.
Psychiatric medications
Individuals suffering from any mental illness including anxiety first experience the anxiety immediately after the onset of OCD symptoms. Therefore, experts recommend antianxiety medications to treat anxiety. Moreover, if their stress persists and transforms into depression, then antidepressants are recommended. The main role of antianxiety medications and antidepressants is to reduce the serotonin levels in the brain.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
As OCD results in distorted thoughts, talk therapy is considered essential to reframe them. Among all psychotherapies, cognitive behavioral therapy is leading in altering the thoughts, perceptions, and associated behavior. At Brainpower Wellness Institute, you can find the top cognitive behavioral experts who are skilled in dealing with OCD patients. They communicate with the individual and perform a psychological evaluation to determine the root causes. Based on the evaluation results, they make a structure of a therapeutic plan to treat the OCD symptoms. In some cases, the desired results get to appear in a few sessions. However, if the OCD symptoms are not diminishing then they conduct a few more sessions.
Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy
Exposure therapy is also utilized for the effective treatment of OCD symptoms. As the name indicates, this involves the exposure of individuals to situations that are having obsessions. Initially, individuals feel stress or anxiety and they try to perform the compulsive behavior. However, they are instructed to avoid the compulsions. Experts first ask them to list down the things that are greatly bothering them and disturbing their mental peace. If individuals mentioned fear of a few things then they asked them to face them gradually. They provide instructions to face the lowest fear and then move toward the higher fear. With time, they learn to confront their fear with reduced response and become more confident.
Top preventive strategies for OCD
Build your focus
Individuals dealing with OCD are unable to pay attention to important life details. Therefore rebuilding the focus should be your top priority. Our experts can teach you different strategies that how you can work on your focusing abilities even getting distractions continuously. This can be possible by engaging in different physical activities. Moreover, you can also play different mind games to overcome your inattention difficulties.
Self rewards
Another major strategy to cut down the stress from your life is giving rewards to yourself. Whenever you think that you are doing good or achieving something then praise yourself. Consider every day as your last day to make some efforts and achieve something bigger in your life. Before challenging yourself with different situations, determine your self-rewards. Then with time, you will gain more confidence and elevated self-esteem so you will remain ready to face every situation in life.
Concluding remarks
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental and behavioral disorder. Affected individuals get indulged in repeating certain behaviors to get rid of their anxiety and depression. They face difficulty in living a normal life due to their distressing thoughts. Different genetic and hormonal factors are responsible for the onset of OCD. But with the help of psychiatric medications and therapies, you can easily manage obsessive-compulsive disorder. At Brainpower Wellness Institute, you can find the best OCD treatment. Our OCD experts implement therapeutic strategies that cater to the mental health requirements of an individual. So don’t strive any longer and take a courageous step today to live a better life tomorrow.
