Coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder is a challenge, and seeking professional guidance as soon as symptoms appear can prevent major disruptions to your life. Call psychiatry practice near me today for professional support and guidance on getting rid of uninvited or intrusive thoughts, urges, or images that surface in the mind over and over again. Dr. Zlatin Ivanov recommends treatment options like CBT and ERP combined with medications to help you free yourself from the burdens of OCD without any side effects on your overall well-being. He keeps an eye on your progress, even when the symptoms have improved, to maintain results and prevent relapse for a healthier and happier life.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition in which frequent unwanted thoughts and sensations cause you to perform repetitive behaviors. The anxiety-inducing obsessive thoughts and beliefs lead to compulsive behaviors that add to the anxiety, instead of soothing it.
The main symptoms of OCD are obsessions and compulsions that interfere with normal activities. Both obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions that define OCD can amplify one another, requiring treatment that relieves these symptoms.
OCD is usually a chronic or lifelong condition, but symptoms can come and go and ease or worsen over time. The repetitive behaviors can significantly disrupt social interactions and performance of daily tasks. These symptoms may often prevent you from getting to work on time or make you repeat an act several times. You may know these symptoms are problematic, but cannot stop them.
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For symptoms of OCD that interfere with daily life, it is necessary to seek professional guidance. There are several established OCD treatment options that offer their own level of efficiency, based on your condition. It is best to consult a licensed and trained mental healthcare professional to find the treatment most suited to your needs.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be treated and managed with the right therapies. The doctor will recommend the treatment depending on how much the symptoms are disrupting your life.
Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a unique treatment course that uses magnetic fields to reach brain structures associated with mental health conditions. It is a safe, effective, and non-invasive method that has become popular for offering substantial relief for even the most treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression patients.
This treatment is particularly beneficial for patients who have not achieved marked improvement from traditional OCD treatment options, including medication and therapy. Most patients who undergo Deep TMS see a significant reduction of symptoms or total remission.
The best thing about Deep TMS is that it does not require anesthesia. It can be incorporated into the individuals’ daily schedule and does not cause any long-lasting or significant side effects.
CBT is a form of talk therapy and is considered a first-line treatment for OCD. During CBT, a trained and licensed mental health professional works with you to help you examine and understand your thoughts and emotions. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and physical reactions involved in obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is an effort to familiarize the patient with different aspects of their condition and gradually alleviate the symptoms.
Over several sessions, CBT can alter harmful thoughts and stop negative habits, replacing them with healthier ways to cope. During the past few years, several types of therapy have branched out of CBT, which offer patients greater relief from OCD symptoms. The most notable of them is acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). ACT promotes openness and flexibility when reacting to OCD symptoms as patients learn to define and follow through with a commitment to their well-being as guided by the therapist.
ERP is an additional form of CBT that is effective for treating OCD. During this therapy, the therapist exposes you to your obsessions or the situations and images of your fear and helps you resist the urge to perform a compulsion that usually eases your distress. For example, your therapist may ask you to touch some dirty objects but stop you from washing your hands immediately. Gradual exposure to stimuli you associate with OCD-inducing anxiety can play a significant role in becoming accustomed to managing and overcoming OCD-related anxiety-rising behavior.
By staying in a feared situation without anything negative happening, you can learn that your anxious thoughts are just thoughts and not reality.
Medications and drugs are another form of therapy that is considered a first-line treatment course for OCD. Psychopharmacology analyses the impact of different drugs on the mental health of patients. It considers how different components alter behaviors by observing how an individual thinks or feels.
The FDA has approved several selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as the branded medications Prozac and Zoloft, as well as one tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) to treat the condition. Among these medications, SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed class of medications.
While many patients struggling with OCD have benefited from psychopharmacology and found relief, many have experienced severe side effects and even discontinued this treatment due to the severity of the side effects.
Psychodynamic therapy is another treatment method that focuses on unconscious processes or psychological roots of emotional suffering as they are manifested in your present behavior to offer some relief from OCD. It builds your internal resources to deal with problems and move forward without the aid of the therapist.
The goal of this therapy is patient self-awareness and identifying the influence of the past on present behavior. These behaviors are then examined by therapist in relation to the adverse OCD symptoms they are experiencing to help patients grasp the deeper reasons behind the ways they respond to the anxiety their condition produces. A patient with depression may learn how to explore and how reactions to present-day situations are resulting from past events. Patients can focus on breaking away from automatically responding to their induced anxiety and reacting in a more flexible, pacifying manner.
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For some people, first-line non-invasive treatment options like CBT, ERP, psychopharmacology, and psychodynamic therapy fail to deliver desired relief from OCD symptoms. In such cases, healthcare professionals may recommend neurosurgical options to treat their condition.
Recent studies relying on different neurological lesion methods have shown successful results in relieving OCD symptoms for treatment-resistant patients.
These methods include:
Surgical or ablative options focus on the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit of the brain, which is believed to become hyperactive in patients struggling with OCD. Invasive procedures require a healing period and therapies to ensure full recovery from this disorder. It is important to note that studies examining the effectiveness of these techniques involve a limited number of patients. Thus, their success in the general OCD population is not very well known.
Schedule an appointment with Dr. Zlatin Ivanov to find out which treatment method can help you better manage your obsessions and compulsions. OCD treatments strive to bring symptoms under control so they don’t disturb your daily life and relationships. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, Dr. Ivanov may recommend long-term, ongoing, or more intensive treatment to control or reduce your obsessive and compulsive behaviors. He determines which treatment options would be right for you and helps you get on the road to recovery and a better quality of life.
Dr. Zlatin Ivanov, MD, is an adult psychiatrist specializing in addiction treatment, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and OCD. He offers exceptional talk therapy and medication management through online video conferencing.
Dr. Ivanov is double board certified in Psychiatry and Clinical Neurology and a member of the American Psychiatric Association. His medical career is colored by many outstanding contributions to medicine, including several publications, research, and scientific presentations. An attending psychiatrist at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, and Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City, he takes the time to listen to patients and makes sure they know he is committed to their unique situation.
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