Family support: Treatment should start at home first. Extreme care, love and genuine affection gives much required moral support to patient.
Medication: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Tricyclic antidepressants, Clomipramine, Benzidiazepines are generally used. Atypical Antipsychotics like Quetiapine are also used in treatment for OCD. However, patients end up developing tolerance to these drugs. Increasing their dosages also increases the amount of side effects of these medications.
Behavioural Therapy: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is found to be most effective in OCD treatment. It focuses on the use of coping strategies to change negative and maladaptive thoughts and beliefs.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): Used in treatment for OCD in rare and very adamant cases.
Psychosurgery: In extreme cases where other efforts fail, this is the last resort. A surgical lesion is made in cingulate cortex of brain, and this serves to decrease obsessive thoughts. It however involves the destruction of brain tissue. A new technique introduced is called Deep Brain Stimulation in which a device is fitted inside the brain that sends electrical impulses.
Food: Certain studies have revealed that nutritional deficiencies may also contribute OCD. So vitamin and mineral supplements are used in treatment for OCD.
