Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by a pattern of recurring, unwanted thoughts and anxieties (obsessions) that can lead you to engage in repeated actions (compulsions). These compulsive thoughts and behaviors can disrupt everyday life, creating severe discomfort.

People with OCD usually try to suppress or dismiss their obsessions, making them feel more upset and anxious. Ultimately, they get compelled to engage in obsessive behaviors to reduce stress. Despite attempts to suppress or dismiss unwanted thoughts or desires, they persist. This feeds the OCD cycle, which results in more rituals.

OCD often revolves around themes, such as an obsessive fear of contracting germs. People with OCD may wash their hands excessively until they are painful and chapped to relieve their anxieties of infection. The disorder might make them feel humiliated and embarrassed. According to experts in the field, OCD can’t be cured, but it can be controlled with medication, therapy, and support.

OCD Symptoms

Obsessions and compulsions are the two basic categories of OCD symptoms. Obsessions and compulsions are common among OCD sufferers; however, some only experience one or the other.

These symptoms are not only momentary or transient. Even minor signs may consume at least an hour of your day and significantly impact your daily activities.

Obsessions or compulsions may affect your capacity to concentrate in class or finish activities at work. You could even be unable to go to work, school, etc.

You may be aware that the compulsive activities won’t truly stop the obsessive thoughts from occurring or that the obsessive ideas aren’t factual. All the same, they often seem out of control.

OCD Treatment

Medication, psychotherapy, or a mix of the two are often used to treat OCD. Some OCD sufferers continue to have symptoms even though most individuals benefit from therapy.

Anxiety, sadness, and body dysmorphic disorder—a condition in which a person wrongly thinks that a portion of their body is abnormal—can sometimes coexist with OCD in a person. When choosing a course of therapy, it’s crucial to consider some other illnesses.

Psychotherapy

Your thought patterns may be changed with cognitive behavioral therapy. Your doctor will place you in an environment intended to induce anxiety or trigger compulsions as part of a technique known as exposure and response prevention. You’ll discover how to reduce, then stop, your OCD thoughts or behaviors.

Relaxation

Living with OCD means you may constantly seek ways to manage your anxiety and obsessions. The best way to improve OCD self-help skills is to learn and regularly practice relaxation techniques. Simple practices like yoga, massage, and meditation may ease the symptoms of anxious OCD. For example, deep breathing sends a robust relaxation signal to the brain that effectively turns down physiological arousal and stress levels.

Medication

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are psychiatric medications that assist many individuals to manage their obsessions and compulsions.

Starting to function might take two to four months. Sertraline, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, citalopram (Celexa), escitalopram (Lexapro), and paroxetine (Paxil) are some examples of the most common ones. Your doctor may prescribe antipsychotic medications such as aripiprazole (Abilify) or risperidone (Risperdal) if you continue to have symptoms.

Neuromodulation

Your doctor may sometimes use specific devices if treatment and medicine aren’t sufficiently improving your condition.

These devices alter the electrical activity in a particular region of your brain. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is one kind that has received FDA approval for treating OCD.

It stimulates nerve cells using magnetic fields. Deep brain stimulation, a more involved method, uses in-brain electrodes.

TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation)

A non-invasive device called a TMS unit is held over the patient’s head to create a magnetic field. It concentrates on a particular region of the brain that controls OCD symptoms.

Do you often find yourself fretting about everyday situations without really knowing why? Are you too preoccupied with worries about your health, finances, family, job, or children?

If so, you probably suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), characterized by persistent and excessive worry about several things. GAD may cause fear and dread to seem like a regular part of everyday life. The good news is that it can be treated. Find out more about the symptoms of GAD and where to get support.

It’s common to have uneasiness now and then. Many individuals may fret about issues like their health, financial matters, or their loved ones. However, GAD sufferers experience intense worry or anxiety more often about these and other issues—even when no specific threat exists.

GAD is often characterized by a lingering sense of dread or worry that interferes with day-to-day activities and responsibilities. It is not the same as sometimes worrying or feeling anxious due to demanding life situations. People with GAD endure regular anxiety for months or perhaps years.

The disorder occurs gradually and can begin throughout life, but the risk is highest between childhood and middle age. Also, women are nearly twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with depression.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

You may experience troublesome, unsettling anxiety as well as agitation and restlessness. Your breathing may become shallow and rapid, your heartbeat may quicken, and your hands may quiver.

Hyperventilation may occasionally result from rapid breathing (heavy breathing accompanied by a sense of gasping for air, faintness, and numbness). You might have increased sweating (even without effort), dry lips that make swallowing difficult, and sleeplessness.

Physical symptoms, including headaches, aches, pains all over the body, and upset stomach (cramps, nausea, and/or diarrhea), may be so noticeable that patients and their physicians ignore the underlying worry in favor of the physical symptoms.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Diagnosis

Generalized anxiety disorder can be a challenge to diagnose. A mental health professional who specializes in diagnosing generalized anxiety disorder may assist in determining if the symptoms the patient is exhibiting are due to an anxiety disorder or another medical problem.

Following a thorough evaluation, the mental health professionals (such as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, child psychologist, psychiatric social worker, or psychiatric nurse practitioner) will make a differential diagnosis by comparing several conditions with related symptoms.

The anxiety and worry are accompanied by various physical or cognitive symptoms such as edginess or restlessness, impaired concentration, irritability, and difficulty sleeping. Adults’ and children’s concerns may easily shift from one topic to another.

In the case of children, their parents are questioned about their child’s anxiety symptoms and associated behavior during the examination. They will also be requested to summarize their child’s social, medical, familial, and educational backgrounds. Clinicians often use tools like questionnaires or structured interviews to gather more information.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder Treatment

Treatment decisions are based on how significantly the disorder is affecting your ability to function in your daily life. Psychotherapeutic and pharmacological interventions are two main types of traditional therapy techniques. Along with these two traditional therapy modalities, other therapies that have been put up for more research include Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAMs), brain stimulation, exercise, therapeutic massage, and many more.

Sometimes, multiple treatment modalities are required so that a patient can receive both pharmacological therapy and psychotherapy. There is evidence that both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and drugs like SSRIs may help people with anxiety.

The ideal course of therapy is often thought to be a mix of CBT and medication. It may be crucial to use medication to treat excessive anxiety for individuals to benefit from CBT.