Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Treatment Goals
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are current first-line treatments for OCD. Every person is different, so some people will find that CBT alone could potentially relieve OCD symptoms and others will find they need a combination of CBT and medication. Some patients may need to augment their initial therapy or change treatments after a sufficient trial period in order to achieve satisfactory results.[1]
No medications approved for the treatment of OCD have been approved for combination therapy with CBT, including ERP. Please discuss your treatment regimen with your doctor.
It's important to keep in mind the goals of treatment and have realistic expectations for what treatment can do for you, and how quickly. Treatments rarely relieve people with OCD from all their OCD symptoms, and treatment typically takes time to work.[1] Working together with your doctor, the treatment regimen that will work best for you can be determined.
Typically the goals of treatment are:
- Decrease symptom frequency and severity
- Improve functioning
- Improve quality of life in family, social, work/school, home, parental, and leisure areas
The impact of Jazz Pharmaceuticals' product on quality of life measures or on the cost burden of OCD has not been studied in clinical trials.
Source: [1]
Goals may also include minimizing any side effects of treatment, helping you develop strategies to cope with things (such as stress) that make your symptoms worse, and educating you and your family about OCD and its treatment.[1]
Specifically, it's reasonable to expect that treatment may help you:
- Reduce the number of hours per day obsessing and performing rituals
- Reduce OCD-related anxiety
- Develop an ability to live with uncertainty
- Have little or no interference by OCD with the tasks of ordinary living
Source: [1]
"Sometimes when one symptom is addressed, such as my list-making, my OCD often transfers over to another kind of counting or taking inventory. So it feels like the root problem is not addressed — there is a real struggle to make progress because it's all interrelated."
- Amanda O.
References:
- ^ American Psychiatric Association; Koran LM, et al. Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2007;164(suppl):1-56.
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