Treatment for OCD

Treatment for OCD is challenging and often unsuccessful. The strategy of treatment for OCD depends on how much it’s affecting your life. There are different clinical approaches to treatment for OCD, but one of the most popular is the use of medications.

 

Medications for OCD

This is usually a type of antidepressant medicine that can help alter the balance of chemicals in your brain. The main medicines prescribed are a type of antidepressant called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). An SSRI can help improve OCD symptoms by increasing the levels of a chemical called serotonin in your brain.

These treatments for OCD can be very effective. Still, it’s essential to be aware that there are possible side effects like feeling agitated, shaky, or anxious, feeling or being sick, diarrhea or constipation, dizziness, sleeping problems (insomnia), headaches, and low sex drive.

There’s also a very small chance that SSRIs could cause you to have suicidal thoughts or want to self-harm.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, affects millions of people around the world and is more common than previously thought. It is only one of many anxiety disorders that can lead to panic and anxiety attack symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks OCD as the tenth most debilitating illness of any kind in terms of loss of earnings and reduced quality of life. 

Multiple studies have found that the effectiveness of allopathic treatment for OCD is virtually equal to the effectiveness of a placebo.

 

What is OCD?

OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, is an anxiety-related disorder that can occur in children as well as adults. People with OCD have persistent, reoccurring thoughts or obsessions about unfounded and exaggerated fears.

These obsessions of fear can be about almost anything but typically involve being contaminated, behaving improperly, or being violent. These fears usually lead to doing repetitive rituals or routines, called compulsions, such as repeated hand washing, counting, repeating phrases, and hoarding, and are an attempt to deal with the fear and anxiety.

Types of OCD

There have been five types of OCD identified. Here are the basic fears that tend to bring out obsessive-compulsive behavior:

Aversion to Dirt and Germs

Nicknamed the ‘Washers and Cleaners,’ these patients continually worry that they will get dirt or germs on them. This patient’s greatest fear is contracting germs. These individuals display OCD behavior as washing their clothes multiple times before wearing them, scouring surfaces they have already scrubbed, and washing their hands five or six times.

 

Scared of Catastrophe

An unreasonable feeling of imminent doom follows these patients wherever they go. Checkers live with inordinate fear that failure to re-check things (doors, on and off switches) over and over will cause harm to themselves and others. They prepare routines that are often so comprehensive that there is no time left in their day for common daily tasks.

Fear of Disorderliness

They constantly find themselves arranging things the “right” way. They spend a lot of time organizing things and feel stressed if their things are rearranged, moved, or even touched.

Fear of Nasty Thoughts

The ‘Obsessions’ cannot prevent their thoughts from turning to injuring someone. To banish their horrifying thoughts, they may repeatedly sing a word or count to the highest number possible.

The hoarders

Fear of throwing something away in case it is needed. The ‘Hoarders’ are aptly named as they pile up everything and decline to throw anything away. The thought of someday needing something they may have thrown away at a previous time can be so paralyzing for these people that they will not throw away one solitary item. They also collect a mound of potentially practical items but have so many that they could never put them all to good use.

Symptoms of OCD

Symptoms of OCD vary between adults and children. An older child or a teenager with OCD may fear that he will become ill from germs or contaminated food. To cope with his or her feelings, a child may develop “rituals” (a behavior or activity that gets repeated). Sometimes, the obsession and compulsion are linked: “I fear this bad thing will happen if I stop checking or hand washing, so I can’t stop even if it doesn’t make any sense.”

 

Research shows that OCD is a brain disorder and tends to run in families, although this doesn’t mean the child will develop symptoms if a parent has the disorder. A child may also develop OCD with no previous family history.

Children and adolescents often feel shame and embarrassment about their OCD. Many fear it means they’re crazy and are hesitant to talk about their thoughts and behaviors. Good communication between parents and children can increase understanding of the problem and help the parents appropriately support their child.

Symptoms of OCD in adults

Symptoms of OCD in adults involve obsessions, compulsions, or both. These can cause distress and interfere with the person’s ability to perform routine activities.

Obsessional symptoms of OCD in adults

• Losing control, such as the fear of acting on an urge to self-harm or hurt others,
• Perfectionism, which may involve the fear of losing things or an intense focus on exactness or remembering things,
• Harm, including a fear of being responsible for a catastrophic event
• Unwanted sexual thoughts, including thoughts about inappropriate activities
• Religious or superstitious beliefs, such as a concern about offending God or stepping on cracks in the sidewalk

Compulsions and symptoms of OCD in adults

• Not every repetitious behavior is a compulsion. Most people use repetitive behaviors, such as bedtime routines, to help them manage everyday life. Listed below are compulsions and symptoms of OCD in adult
• Washing and cleaning, including hand washing
• Repeating routine activities, such as getting up from a chair
• Mental compulsions, such as repeatedly reviewing an event

Symptoms of OCD in children

Children don’t always express their emotions out loud because they don’t know how to. This is why looking at children’s actions as they grow up is so important. For example, some children will start hoarding things. This might not be their toys, food, gum wrappers, stickers, or other small items. If they become obsessed with one item, that is a massive sign that OCD might be in the works.

One of the most common symptoms of OCD in a child is excessive cleaning. While most parents would feel this is a good thing, it can show that a child is developing rituals and compulsions. Parents can identify excessive cleaners by keeping track of their cleaning supplies and just taking notice of the cleanliness of their space, especially the child’s bedroom. Parents have to keep a close eye on their children when they feel there is a mental illness like OCD on the horizon. Listed below are the most common symptoms of OCD in children.

Obsession symptoms of OCD in children:

• Fear of harm or danger to loved one or self (i.e., if I count to five every time I talk to my father, he won’t die)
• A need for perfection (i.e., re-writing an assignment instead of erasing a mistake)
• Fear of losing something valuable
• A need for symmetry and order
• Intrusive words or sounds
• Aggressive/sexual thoughts
• Religious fixations

Compulsions and symptoms of OCD in children:

• Washing and rewashing hands to avoid exposure to germs
• Arranging or ordering objects in a very specific way
• Repeating a name, phrase, or tune
• Counting or touching rituals
• Hoarding or saving useless items
• Seeking reassurance or doing things until they seem perfect

Natural treatment for OCD

Natural treatment for OCD is one of the best approaches to treatment for OCD with no side effects and has been proven to be effective in the recovery of OCD. Listed below are the most common and effective natural treatments for OCD

Meditation for OCD: a popular natural treatment for OCD

Meditation for OCD is one of the best natural treatments for OCD that has been proven to be the best method of avoiding and treating OCD.

If you’re suffering from OCD, you won’t be able to focus on anything properly. You will be put through uncomforting thoughts and compulsions to avoid confrontation and facing tough situations. Therefore, the art of meditation will be great for you. Meditation for OCD leads to mindfulness. Mindfulness is when a person becomes aware of their thoughts without judgment. This mindfulness helps people with OCD feel more in tune with their true feelings instead of losing mental control.

Yoga for OCD: a traditional Indian natural treatment for OCD

In 2004, Shannahoff-Khalsa published an article in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, reporting positive results in treating OCD with Kundalini Yoga. In the research, five people who regularly performed Kundalini yoga exercises stated that they improved the manifestation of their symptoms by over 50%!

 

In the first trial by Shannahoff-Khalsa & Beckett in 1996, the intervention group showed an average improvement of 55.6% in their score on the OCD scale. In the last RCT, conducted by Shannahoff-Khalsa and colleagues in 1999, groups of patients were randomly assigned to twelve months of the kundalini meditation protocol or twelve months of using the relaxation response alongside mindfulness meditation. The Kundalini yoga group demonstrated greater and statistically significant decreases in several OCD-related symptoms.

 

A study recently published in the Interdisciplinary International Journal of Dev Sanskriti University in Haridwar, India, found that a combination of yoga, pranayama, and singing can be an effective way of treating symptoms of OCD.

Therapy for OCD: the most common natural treatment for OCD

Therapy for OCD is one of the natural remedies for OCD that serves as a very strong guideline for sufferers to realize that they can resist their disorder.

Therapy for OCD can be separated into different categories, which are listed below:

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT

• This is one of the therapies for OCD that aims to alter your mind, the way it thinks positively, and the way it works. Using cognitive therapy for OCD sufferers involves focusing on the disastrous thoughts the individual has as well as their assumed responsibility for them. A huge component of this is for the person to learn more effective ways of responding to these thoughts without exhibiting compulsive actions. Another component of cognitive therapy is exposure and response prevention. In this type of treatment, the source of the obsession gets the focus. Exposing the individual to the source encourages them to avoid following through with their obsessive behavior.

Self-help therapy

• This is a therapy for OCD that typically comes in the form of reading books on the subject and books written by people who suffered from the condition in the past and found a way to overcome it, utilizing relaxation techniques, most notably yoga, and mindfulness meditation; using relaxation sounds, normally on CDs or MP3s; and attending support group meetings or their online equivalents. Whatever therapy for OCD you choose, it’s important to stick with it for long enough to be effective. Far too many people with the condition jump from idea to idea and fail to benefit from each technique.

 

Hypnotherapy for OCD – one of the most effective natural treatments for OCD

Hypnotherapy is a natural remedy for OCD that works with the unconscious mind, the part we are not aware of or can influence normally. Hypnotherapy for OCD works by putting you in a relaxed state so that the hypnotherapist can access this part of the mind. Once accessed, they can then influence it using suggestion techniques.

Some of the techniques used in clinical hypnosis for OCD are similar to cognitive behavioral therapy; however, they work on an unconscious basis rather than a conscious one.

Hypnotherapy for OCD can be a helpful way to learn relaxation techniques and self-hypnosis. Many hypnotherapists will offer to show you self-hypnosis techniques, which you can then take from your sessions and apply to your everyday life. Clinical hypnosis for OCD is not guaranteed to work for everyone. However, it is a safe and natural approach that many find helpful. When used as a complementary therapy to support you, it can be a useful tool to help overcome mental health concerns like OCD.

 

Hypnosis for OCD: medical hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming represent two modalities of the most demanded natural treatment for OCD

Hypnosis for OCD is a natural treatment for OCD that is used to convince sufferers that they have OCD. By knowing and accepting that OCD is present, a sufferer gets more incentive to listen to his or her therapist to confront his or her fears and chooses this confrontation rather than doing the ritual that he or she believes will stop the materialization of the fear.

This might be a very difficult process, but some hypnotherapists believe that with the use of hypnosis for OCD, it will be easier to convince the sufferer that the fears are irrational and that they are not likely to happen just because they did not do the ritual. Through constructive suggestions, the hypnotherapist can make the sufferer realize that confronting the fear is not at all life-threatening and that it is a better option than living his or her entire life trying to cope with the fear by doing OCD rituals.

Homeopathy for OCD: #1 natural treatment for OCD

Homeopathy for OCD is a natural treatment for OCD that has been used for a long time with no side effects.

 

Homeopathy for OCD remedies are listed below.

Arsenic album

• This is great homeopathy for OCD. Patients who need this remedy often have compulsions to lock and check the doors and cupboards. They are very particular about their possessions, fearing that somebody will take them away. They usually experience the fear of robbers, and because of this fear, they act compulsively and have a lot of anxiety. With the strong thought that people will take away everything they have, they land up into anxiety and restlessness with fear of death. The main fear is that whatever they have is going to be snatched.

Cannabis indica

• This homeopathy for OCD medicine is ideal when restless or in great fear of being left alone—anger with anxiety, inconsolable anguish, complaints, and lamentation. Exaltation spirit with excessive talkativeness Full of fun and nonsense and laughs immeasurably. Hallucinations and ideas are innumerable. It is preferable to experience fear outside when there is severe oppression. The constant fear of going crazy. Exaggeration of the length of time and the room size: seconds seem old, a few rods an immense distance. The horror of darkness and the fear of death. He cannot remember a thought or event due to different thoughts accumulating in his brain. Sudden loss of speech starts but cannot finish a sentence. Stutter and stutter. Exaltation of spirits with excessive talkativeness Very distracted. He got lost Every few minutes and then woke up with his fellow human beings. Theorize all the time. Clairvoyance. Delirium tremens, tremors, hallucinations, the tendency to anger, nausea, and insatiable thirst. Laughs at the little thing—sudden loss of memory.

Lachesis

The most important criteria for prescribing this remedy are: There is great apathy and extraordinary weakness of memory; everything that is heard is, so to speak, obliterated; even the spelling is no longer remembered; and there is even forgetfulness of things that are expressed—confusion about the time. Mistakes are made in speaking and writing, as well as in the hours of the day and the days of the week. Stupidity and loss of all mental faculties Excessive excitement and excessive nervous irritability, with a tendency to fear. Perfect happiness and joy were followed by a gradual weakening of spirituality, a lack of self-control, and lust, as if she were someone else and in the hands of a stronger power. Affects the intellect in general. State of ecstasy and exaltation that even provokes crying, the desire to meditate, and the desire to compose intellectual works with pride. Frantic talkiness with high language, well-chosen words, and fast and continuous subject change. Loquacity, mocking jealousy, frightening images, a great tendency to mockery, satire, and ridiculous ideas Nocturnal delirium with a lot of conversation or murmuring

Acupuncture for OCD: an ancient Chinese natural treatment for OCD

Acupuncture for OCD is safe, effective, and popular. People suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) find it very challenging to carry out even routine tasks. After a while, their fear and obsession take over their whole life, and if left untreated, it can become very challenging to reduce the symptoms. In the US alone, it’s estimated that about 1–3% of the population suffers from OCD. However, with effective therapy, it’s possible to find long-term solutions to OCD symptoms.

 

Generally, prescription drugs and traditional methods are prescribed for OCD patients, but they can often be too aggressive for patients and come with adverse effects. This has compelled many people to seek alternative treatments, particularly acupuncture for OCD.

If you want to know how to treat OCD naturally, acupuncture might prove to be a very beneficial treatment.

Acupuncture for OCD: Definition and Mechanism

Acupuncture for OCD is an ancient Chinese technique that involves the insertion of very thin needles into specific points, known as acupoints, in your body in varying depths. Chinese medicine believes that when there’s an imbalance in your life energy or ‘Qi,’ you’ll encounter illnesses. The primary aim of acupuncture is to restore your body’s life force and maintain a balance of ‘Ying’ and ‘Yang’ to remove diseases and prevent future illnesses.

Chinese medicine believes that Qi flows through pathways known as meridians in the human body. The energy flow and meridians are accessible through the 350 acupoints in your body. Through the insertion of acupuncture needles into these specific points in appropriate combinations, your body’s energy can be brought into balance.

According to modern science, acupuncture points are areas where muscles, nerves, and connective tissue can be stimulated. Through this stimulation, blood flow can be increased, triggering your body’s natural painkiller.

Acupuncture can cure some illnesses as well as promote general well-being. If you’re suffering from OCD and you want a more holistic treatment for OCD, you might want to give OCD acupuncture a try.

What Are the Benefits of Acupuncture for OCD?

Acupuncture is not only a viable alternative treatment for OCD, but it has various advantages, such as:

• It can be helpful for patients who don’t respond well to medications
• It can be very effective in pain management
• It can be an excellent complementary treatment
• It has very few or no side effects
• If performed correctly, it is safe

On top of that, acupuncture is significantly more affordable than traditional treatments and medications.

Is acupuncture for OCD safe?

Acupuncture for OCD is predominantly safe, with minimal or no side effects. Acupuncture for OCD sessions with adverse effects is hardly reported. Risks only occur when the practitioner is not well-trained or experienced. Thus, it would help if you were referred to a reputed and experienced acupuncturist.

However, though it’s rare, some side effects might occur, such as:

• If the acupuncture needle is inserted too deep into your upper back or chest, it can result in a collapsed lung
• In very rare situations, a needle might break off and cause internal organ damage
• Unsterilized needles can lead to infections
• At times, soreness, bruising, and bleeding can occur at insertion points
• If you’re under blood thinners or have a bleeding disorder, acupuncture can be dangerous

The FDA in the United States regulates acupuncture needles as medical devices. Their labeling and manufacture need to meet particular standards. Ensure that your practitioner uses needles meant for only one use, are sterile, and are non-toxic.

What to Expect During Acupuncture for an OCD Session

During an acupuncture session, you’ll be asked to lie down on one side, on your back, or lie down depending on where the acupuncture needles will be inserted. After that, very thin, sterile, and disposable needles will be inserted into your body. You might experience a brief tingling or stinging sensation.

After the needles are inserted, you might experience a dull ache at the base of the needles, which will soon subside. Contrary to popular belief, acupuncture sessions are generally painless with no side effects. The needles stay put for about 5–30 minutes. Occasionally, the needle is stimulated with electricity or heated after insertion to enhance the results.

The number of treatments required depends on the individual. If you want to try acupuncture for OCD, it’ll require multiple sessions before you see results. It also depends on how severe your symptoms are. However, in most cases, acupuncture can reduce OCD symptoms significantly.

Is a natural treatment for OCD effective?

Acupuncture for OCD can prove to be very beneficial if you’re looking for an alternative treatment for OCD. Before an acupuncture treatment, an exhaustive evaluation of your previous medical condition and your current symptoms is undertaken. After that, very thin needles are placed in particular points of your body, which increases your serotonin production, also known as happy chemicals, which can be very beneficial for OCD patients.

Acupuncture aims to eliminate energy blockages, which will, in turn, result in calming your mind, reducing stress and anxiety, returning your body to its natural state, and promoting optimal health. Studies show that people with OCD who received acupuncture sessions in comparison to patients who received regular care showed a significant decrease in OCD symptoms.

However, it is to be noted that acupuncture doesn’t deliver instant results. If you try OCD acupuncture, it’ll require multiple sessions before you see positive results. If you don’t respond well to medications or aren’t seeing any positive results through conventional treatments, acupuncture for OCD might be an excellent option. Additionally, for enhanced results, you can combine acupuncture with hypnosis, homeopathy, herbal remedies, or other holistic treatments for OCD.

Conclusion on natural treatment for OCD

If you’re suffering from OCD, it can be challenging to find an effective treatment. OCD is a complex problem with various causes and symptoms; you must seek treatment as soon as possible. After a while, OCD can worsen, and effective treatment can become very challenging. If you’re opposed to the idea of side effects and want a more natural and holistic treatment for OCD, you should consider acupuncture for OCD. It has few to no side effects, and the results can often be profound.

For acupuncture for OCD treatment in Philadelphia, contact our clinic at 267-403-3085 to schedule your first appointment with one of our licensed acupuncturists—or an Alternative Holistic Evaluation with Dr. Tsan. You can also book it online.

Since Philadelphia Acupuncture is a division of Philadelphia Holistic Clinic, you can receive any other holistic services that you may need (hypnosis for OCD, homeopathy for OCD) at the same place.