Diagnosis
To be able to diagnose an obsessive-compulsive disorder, the obsessive behavior must be examined in detail. With the help of a special questionnaire or a clinical interview, both of which are specifically tailored to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the criteria or symptoms that must be present for a diagnosis can be systematically asked. It is equally important to consider the effects of the symptoms on the environment of the person affected.
In difficult cases, obsessive-compulsive disorder also prevents the person from exercising a profession that may have previously played an important role in his or her life. The obsessive-compulsive disorder can also lead to other mental illnesses or occur together with other clinical pictures (anxiety disorders, depressive behavior). The additional presence of other diseases can also be clarified by a clinical interview or a questionnaire.
Behavioral observations, which are carried out by a treating therapist, can provide information about the type and extent of the obsessive-compulsive disorder. For this purpose, the therapist goes into the everyday situations of the patient together with the person affected. Subsequently, the behavior of the person concerned is discussed in a follow-up meeting.
Therapy
In order to successfully treat an obsessive-compulsive disorder, it has proven to be useful to use a combination of drug and psychological treatment. In this way, the person affected is relieved of the pressure of suffering in a timely manner. At the same time, the quality of life of the affected person should increase again, so that life becomes possible for him/her in society without any problems.
Psychological treatment 70% of the affected persons are successfully treated by psychological treatment. A behavioral therapy approach is increasingly chosen to help the affected persons to lead a normal, non-coercive life again. As a therapeutic procedure, habituation training is usually applied.The affected person should get used to situations (where the obsessive-compulsive disorder has previously made itself felt) without having to follow the obsessive behavior or thoughts.
First of all, if obsessive-compulsive behavior is present, this is “experienced” mentally. The person concerned should put himself in his mind into the situations in which he would otherwise show the obsessive-compulsive behavior. The obsessive thoughts are repeatedly triggered with the help of the therapist.
In this situation, the affected person should intensively deal with the emerging thoughts and ideas and discuss them with the therapist. The goal of this procedure is to remove the threat to the person from the situations so that he or she realizes that the situations can be experienced without compulsive behavior. Even in the case of compulsive behavior, a visit and debriefing of the situation is chosen as the best method.
During the behavioral therapy sessions, the family of the person concerned is usually also involved in order to talk about the person’s life and the consequences in everyday life. For relatives, these sessions are often also an opportunity to receive advice on how to behave towards the person concerned. Many feel helpless and do not know what kind of behavior would be appropriate towards the person.
Drug therapy Often the combination of drug and behavioral therapy promises long-term success in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders. Here, the type of medication as well as the dose and duration of application depend on the degree of severity of the obsessive-compulsive disorder. Certain drugs that are also used to treat depression or anxiety disorders, such as clomipramine and fluoxetine, have proven to be successful.
These preparations increase serotonin activity (messenger substances in the brain that are responsible for many types of behavior) and lead to a normalization of metabolic activity. It has been shown that treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder with antidepressants has led to improvement in 50% of patients. The symptoms of OCD do not disappear completely, but they are reduced by about 30%.
- Psychological treatment 70% of the affected persons are successfully treated by psychological treatment. A behavioral therapy approach is increasingly chosen to help the affected persons to lead a normal, non-coercive life again. As a therapeutic procedure, habituation training is usually applied here.
The affected person should get used to situations (in which the obsessive-compulsive disorder was previously noticeable) without having to follow the obsessive behavior or thoughts. First of all, if obsessive-compulsive behavior is present, this is “experienced” mentally. The person concerned should put himself in his mind into the situations in which he would otherwise show the obsessive-compulsive behavior.
The obsessive thoughts are repeatedly triggered with the help of the therapist. In this situation, the affected person should intensively deal with the emerging thoughts and ideas and discuss them with the therapist. The goal of this procedure is to remove the threat to the person from the situations so that he or she realizes that the situations can be experienced without compulsive behavior.
Even in the case of compulsive behavior, a visit and debriefing of the situation is chosen as the best method. During the behavioral therapy sessions, the family of the person concerned is usually also involved in order to talk about the person’s life and the consequences in everyday life. For relatives, these sessions are often also an opportunity to receive advice on how to behave towards the person concerned.
Many feel helpless and do not know what kind of behavior would be appropriate towards the person.
- Drug therapy Often the combination of drug therapy and behavioral therapy promises long-term success in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders. Here, the type of medication as well as the dose and duration of application depend on the degree of severity of the obsessive-compulsive disorder. Certain drugs that are also used to treat depression or anxiety disorders, such as clomipramine and fluoxetine, have proven to be successful. These preparations increase serotonin activity (messenger substances in the brain that are responsible for many types of behavior) and lead to a normalization of metabolic activity.It has been shown that treatment of OCD with antidepressants has led to improvement in 50% of patients. The symptoms of OCD do not disappear completely, but they are reduced by about 30%.
