Electroconvulsive Therapy (OCD)

Reported for the first time in the 18th century, was the use of convulsive therapy.

This usually occurs when they are not obsessing. They know that their obsessions and compulsions are based on unwarranted fears. However, there are other times when they feel that their fears are completely valid. Even though people with OCD know that their fears are unwarranted, many try to rid themselves of these unwanted, obsessive thoughts and to stop performing their compulsive behaviors. Some can control themselves more while at work or at school. However, over the months or years, people's abilities to resist their feelings weaken and in the some cases, these rituals that the people with OCD perform can become so time-consuming which impedes their ability to have a full and normal life. Although OCD can consume one's life, people try to keep their disorder from their friends rather than to seek help. Most of the time people are successful in keeping it a secret from their friends and co-workers, but the downside is that they do not get the necessary help until years later after which they have learned to work their lives around their obsessions and compulsions. (4)

Firstly, psychological therapy, also called psychotherapy, treats the patient through exposure, group therapy, hypnotherapy, and response prevention to get help rid of compulsions and/or obsessions deep within a person’s conscious. Exposure involves exposing a patient to the stimuli that cause anxiety for a long period time over repeated times. Group therapy is similar to Alcoholics Anonymous involving patients suffering similar symptoms or who are under the same type of obsession or compulsion. This treatment is meant to help others with the illness and learn more about their condition. Hypnotherapy involves a hypnotist and the patient and the hypnotist will try to rid of the patient’s obsessions or compulsions while under hypnosis. Response prevention aims at helping the patient to avoid from performing tasks compulsively. Finally, drug use is believed by professionals to be successful at treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Since one of the causes for the disorder is lack of serotonin, antidepressants recuperate the lost serotonin, such as clomipramine, amitriptyline, imipramine, and much more. Despite all of these treatments available, a person is always capable of

There are several different options of treatment for someone with OCD. Some of the options are drug

Obsessive compulsive disorder are most effectively treated with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and/or medication. The class of typically prescribed medications are called serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs). The most effective treatments are Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), which is a type of CBT.

In this article published in Journal of Mental Health, Lauren Rayner, with the help of her colleagues study the consent process of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and the side effects that come with the therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy is used to help people with certain mental illnesses such as severe depression, mania, catatonia, and schizophrenia. This therapy is the process of which electric currents pass through the brain intentionally causing a quick seizure. This seizure causes changes to happen within the brain that can quickly reverse symptoms of some mental disorders. Electroconvulsive therapy has a very bad connotation behind it. It is portrayed in the media as inhumane and leaves a negative impression. Patients post electroconvulsive therapy complain about cognitive impairment. According to the article a patient-centered approach will help inform others about the treatment and policy procedures of electroconvulsive therapy. Researchers conducted studies that helped understand the perspectives of patients that receive the therapy.

As stated, there are numerous empirical studies that state that ERP tends to be the most effective form of treatment for OCD sufferers.

Getting rid of OCD requires some kind of treatment. The most common type of treatment includes a mix between medicine and cognitive-behavior therapy.

Similarly, McKay et al.’s article gives credit to the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and exposure and response prevention therapy (2015). The article goes on to state that ERP and CBT are the most efficient sources of treatment for OCD (McKay et

Imagine a young woman by the name of Gabrielle Blackman-Sheppard, struggling with depression. Thoughts of suicide and loneliness plague her day in and day out and she cannot seem to overcome that which seems to curse her waking days. In an attempt to be freed of this, she decides to try something known as Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). Her family is horrified, knowing the dangers that often come with this procedure and warn against it, but she goes through with it anyway. “ ‘The image they all had was of someone being forcibly strapped into an electric chair,’ Gabrielle, who has suffered…for nearly 30 years. ‘'Many people still see it as a form of torture. But I was desperate. I was more terrified of not having it because, at the time, I

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was introduced in the 1930’s at a time when no effective treatment for the severe mentally ill was known. Convulsive therapy, in the form of chemically induced seizures, was first tested in the 1930’s in patients with dementia praecox, a disorder that is now widely labeled as schizophrenia (Meduna 1935, 1937; Fink 1979).

The main way to treat obsessive compulsive disorder is through psychotherapy. Finding out the right diagnosis is the first step from freeing yourself from obsessive compulsive disorder, and they do that by having a mental health professional ask you questions. When you take therapy, they find out what triggers it, and how severe it is. “The confrontation can occur in real life events or in the imagination.” High levels of stress can trigger the person with OCD. Psychotherapy exposes you to your fears and your obsessions. You have to get enough sleep, break down your problems down into little chunks, and deal with immediately with your therapist. If taking therapy isn’t enough to control your disorder, then your therapist will give you medication. Clomipramine, Fluvoxamine, Fluoxetine, Paroxetine, and Sertraline are some of the medications that the therapist might prescribe to you. As well, it is normally not unusual to have to try several medications before finding one that works. If none of the medication works properly, doctors will combine medications to see if that will help. Nevertheless, people react differently to therapy and when they are put on medication, so when looking for help it has to be individual. Lots of people have OCD, curing it may be impossible, but keeping it under control

A theory that has been created is the serotonin theory, which is that people with OCD have too little serotonin (Thomsen). “Serotonin ensures that nerve impulses are transmitted (Thomsen 95).” A model was created to help understand OCD in children and adults, and this model shows that there are disturbances in the restriction and transmission of certain nerve impulses deep in the brain (Thomsen). Obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions can run free because they have nothing to restrain them (Thomsen).

OCD is most commonly treated with psychopharmacological medications (i.e., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), with up to 65% of patients being treated with SSRIs (Blanco et al., 2006); however, as can be recalled, it is also treated with ERP, CT, and ERP+CT, which are variants of CBT and the most widely recognized, implemented, and studied psychological treatments. Many randomized controlled trials (RCTs), meta-analyses, and past qualitative reviews have individually evaluated and compared the efficacies of these psychological interventions as well as psychopharmacological interventions. A few of these primary studies will be described and discussed below.

Obsessive compulsive disorder is influenced by neurological factors with symptoms such as repeating steps, continuously washing their hands, and having a fear of objects like germs. Although there is no cure, there are treatments such as medication and therapy that can help lessen the patient’s anxiety and discomfort.