OCD Treatment
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is a relatively common and long-lasting chronic mental illness. People with OCD tend to exhibit signs of recurring thoughts and uncontrollable behaviors, characterized as obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions. These behavioral side-effects that cause the individual to feel the need to repeat things over and over are the most widely-known symptoms of OCD in today's society.
OCD Treatment Options
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, is recommended for OCD treatment because of how unique evidence-based processes are used that have been designed to change an individual's thoughts and behavioral habits. CBT treatment is typically conducted by a cognitive-behavioral therapist who has been specially trained to treat patients who struggle with OCD.
Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP)
This form of CBT is a unique and specialized treatment method. As you may have guessed, patients in this program are exposed to those things that trigger their anxiety over time. Doing this causes the patients to learn new ways and develop new coping skills that can be used in responses instead of the pesky OCD repetitive habits.
Medications
Antidepressants are typically among the first types of medications that are prescribed explicitly for OCD patients. It does not, however, necessarily mean that you are depressed. These medications are designed to be taken regularly on schedule and can take up to a couple of months for the effects to start having a positive impact on the OCD symptoms. One of the more common antidepressants use in OCD treatment is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).
Signs & Symptoms
Mental health professionals have taught that OCD patients typically struggle with compulsions and obsessions, sometimes even both. Usually, with the use of therapy or medications, finding effective treatments can be imperative because of all the different aspects of life that are affected by this mental health condition. School, work, and close family member relationships are among the most common parts of life affected before beginning to treat for OCD.
Obsessions
Most obsessions associated with obsessive-compulsive disorders are described as repetitive thoughts or mental images that often contribute to the development of anxiety disorders.
OCD obsessions often fall into one of the following categories:
Obsessions Over Causing Harm
- The fear of being the cause of something horrific taking place. Such as starting a fire accidentally or the reason someone gets robbed.
- The fear of being the reason someone suffers a moderate to severe injury because of not being correctly cautious.
Losing Control Obsessions
- The fear of suddenly yelling at other people or shouting insults across the room.
- The fear of feeling the sudden urge to try and steal something.
- The fear of impulsively acting in a way that will harm themselves or others.
- The fear of getting disturbing or terrifying mental images stuck in their head.
- The fear of randomly becoming aggressive and abusive around other people.
Contamination Obsessions
- Contaminants like radiation or asbestos that can frequently be found in the environment.
- Common everyday household chemicals such as various cleaning agents.
- Wide-variety of germs and diseases of every kind.
- Commonly found outdoor objects and liquids such as dirt.
Other Popular Obsessions
- Frequently having extremely superstitious thoughts develop concerning specific color schemes or strong feelings about certain numbers being luck or unlucky.
- A consistent concern of somehow contracting a serious physical sickness such as a disease of some sort.
Joint Commission Accredited
Dr. Paul By The Sea is fully credentialed and licensed in the state of Florida by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO). JCAHO is unanimously considered the gold standard of addiction treatment by industry professionals. Knowing that the facility has obtained this certification should be a top priority for individuals to look at when researching to find the right inpatient or outpatient treatment facility for them.
We dedicate our facilities and treatment methods to ensuring that we provide the best available recovery options while maintaining professional levels of care. Please contact us today and hear how our caring staff of experts use their experience to implement evidence-based treatments to make sure each of our patients receives the most effective treatment regimens.
Compulsions
Often seen as the second phase of OCD symptoms, some people have expressed that their compulsive behaviors sometimes provide some slight relief from the obsessive and overwhelming thoughts.
Without any other proper solutions, some OCD patients say that certain compulsions are often an easy decision. Especially when desperately seeking ways to cope with their conditions. However, studies show that this relief is only temporary and should not be used as a self-medicating strategy.
Compulsions also have specific categories by which they are characterized. Mental health experts have described them being:
Mental Compulsions
- Continously praying in efforts to avoid any negative consequences or harm.
- Unnecessary habits of trying to take back actions or what was said.
- Review previous life events to prevent anything harmful to themselves or others if it were to happen again in the future.
- Keeping an accurate count of completed tasks, making sure that the last one ends on a "safe" number.
Needing to Wash or Clean Things Excessively
- Cleaning around the house unnecessarily and seemingly with no end.
- Unnecessary habits of trying to take back actions or what was said.
- Review previous life events to prevent anything harmful to themselves or others if it were to happen again in the future.
- Keeping an accurate count of completed tasks, making sure that the last one ends on a "safe" number.
Checking
- Checking, often uncontrollably, just to make sure something terrible has not occured.
- Continually circling back to check your work to ensure that there were no errors made.
- Repeatedly checking that the things you do are not causing any injury to yourself or anyone else.
- Spending excessive amounts of time checking on your body to make sure your overall physical condition is in good shape.
Repeating Actions or Processes
- Feeling the need to repeat specific body functions such as tapping, touching, or blinking.
- Feeling the urge to scrap and start over when writing or reading things continously.
- Having to duplicate specific actions like needing to close and re-open doors regularly or having to go back up a flights of stairs and come down again until it feels "right."
- Continually feeling the news to redo specific tasks or entire activities until things are all completed and on a "safe" number.
Tricare & TriWest Insurance Accepted
Dr. Paul’s By The Sea is proud to provide service to the men and women in our military forces. We thank you and accept Tricare insurance, allowing us to provide high-quality health resources to active-duty and veteran service members.
Our rehab center near the city of Jacksonville provides substance use disorder and mental health treatments for these service members and their families.
OCD Treatment at Dr. Paul's By The Sea
If you or a loved one is struggling with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, our addiction recovery center in St. Augustine, Fl, is dedicated to helping you. Our highly trained counselors will work with you using evidence-based practices such as our varies therapy techniques. After an initial assessment we will create a treatment plan that is designed to meet your specific needs. Contact Dr. Paul's By The Sea today, and learn more about our programs and how we can help treat your OCD so you can live the life you want.
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