OCD
There are many different ways that mental health can be affected and many other mental health conditions to deal with. Everyone is different, and everyone’s recovery journey will be different too. That’s why we’re happy to be able to offer a wide range of treatments for various problems, including obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). With OCD treatment Massachusetts, you can rest assured that you’ll get the best help possible from our expert renowned clinic – our team includes providers and a medical director who understands what each patient needs, ensuring your daily life can get back on track as soon as possible with outstanding therapy options. Here is some more information about OCD and the treatment options available to ensure you get the assistance you’re looking for.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
What is OCD?
OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and related disorders are a set of issues that come under the banner of a mental health condition. It brings around unwanted, intrusive thoughts (known as obsessions) and repetitive, some might say ritualistic, behavior (known as compulsions). These compulsive behaviors can range from handwashing to developing a hair pulling disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, or skin picking disorder. Unfortunately, the exact cause of obsessive compulsive disorder is still being studied and isn’t yet quite known; factors like genetic predisposition, neurological influences, and environmental triggers can all play a role. Recognizing OCD symptoms, such as chronic tic disorder and anxiety disorders, is a vital part of early detection, which then leads to getting OCD treatments much more quickly.
Are You Qualified For An IOS For OCD?
Choosing the right treatment for your OCD and related disorders is a huge decision, and it should take a lot of consideration and time. If you think that outpatient services could be the ideal way to get help for your OCD, and you want to contact our center for OCD to find out more, you’ll need to make sure you fit the criteria for the help on offer.
You’ll need a primary mental health diagnosis to determine your condition before our experienced team of clinicians and psychologists can help to assess you and your needs when it comes to mental health and OCD in particular. Once this is completed, it may be that more qualifications need to be assessed, particularly when substance use is involved in the diagnosis. Contact us today to find out more.
Who Is Affected By OCD?
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can cause problems for anyone and everyone, including young patients, young adults, seniors, and everyone in between. In Massachusetts, there are many people dealing with OCD in their daily lives. With Atlantic Behavioral Health, they get the help and treatment options they need to move forward.
What Causes OCD?
There are still plenty of clinical research associates working hard to get to the heart of what causes OCD and related disorders, but there are various factors that have to be taken into account. In general, however, it’s a mental health condition that can seriously and negatively affect someone’s life, and knowing that is a good start when it comes to finding OCD help. We understand that every patient will have different symptoms, including Tourette syndrome, different goals, and different ways of treating OCD, so we work with them to ensure they get what they want and need with their overall well-being and health in mind.
What are OCD Symptoms?
OCD symptoms are a combination of obsessions and compulsions, which essentially means that people with OCD will have lots of negative and persistent thoughts, and they’ll carry out self-determined rituals to help them cope with those thoughts. The compulsive disorder basically tries to heal itself, and the compulsive behaviors actually lower stress and anxiety in patients. The problem is that those actions, which can be constant counting, checking on various things like locks and electrical outlets, or more serious issues like body dysmorphic disorder, hair pulling, Tourette syndrome, and self-harm, can be hugely disruptive to everyday tasks, relationships, work, studies, and overall health.
People with OCD will usually have major issues with anxiety disorders, and their daily lives will be held back by these mental health conditions, which make it hard to move forward, especially if there are co-occurring conditions such as panic attacks, separation anxiety disorders, or eating disorders, for example.
Understanding what’s happening to you personally when going through OCD and related disorders allows our team to ensure you get a treatment plan that works for you and isn’t just an off-the-shelf standard response.
Treating OCD
When it comes to treating OCD and its related disorders, there are plenty of evidence-based treatment options to think about, and many of them will provide relief and improve your overall quality of life. Let’s look more closely at some of these treatments, giving you an overview of what you might consider when it comes to finding the right recovery path for you.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most popular and well-known therapy options for OCD, and it’s founded on the idea that you need to understand the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavioral symptoms if you’re going to find a way to get past your mental health challenges, including OCD.
When it comes to OCD, cognitive behavioral treatment looks at how to identify – and, most importantly, challenge – the negative thoughts that cause the compulsive disorder and actions. By dealing with the obsessions, the compulsions will, generally, be handled too. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a fantastic treatment for patients to really confront their fears and anxiety disorders and replace their negative thoughts with healthier coping systems.
A crucial component of CBT for your OCD mental health condition is exposure and response prevention (ERP), and it can be an effective obsessive compulsive disorder treatment. As the name of this therapy suggests, response prevention involves patients being very gradually exposed to the things that cause their OCD to flare up and trigger their obsessions, but when this happens, they’re gently encouraged by our licensed providers and therapists at our professional treatment center to not carry out their compulsive behaviors, including skin picking. Obviously, this will be difficult to do, but over time, the idea is that people can build a kind of tolerance to their upsetting thoughts through exposure and response prevention treatment and not have to use their compulsions to relieve their anxiety.
DBT, a kind of cognitive therapy, was originally designed to treat borderline personality disorder, but it’s been shown to effectively treat OCD as well. It’s all about paying attention to mindfulness, emotional regulations, and finding ways to handle distress more healthily. DBT gives patients the skills they need to manage their emotions better, which means they’ll have more control over what they do, including all the symptoms of OCD they might be dealing with.
Commitment therapy is another treatment for those with OCD, but it can be highly effective. When you go through this kind of therapy, you won’t try to rid yourself of all your upsetting thoughts and compulsions, but instead, you’ll be encouraged to learn to accept them. Specialists will be able to guide patients on how to do this in the right way, it’s not something to try alone, but it can be an excellent way to move forward, as clinical research suggests.
In some cases, medication could be a good way of treating OCD, but it does need to be regulated and monitored by a medical professional, such as a licensed psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner, for example. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can be extremely useful when it comes to alleviating symptoms of OCD, even though they were originally developed to be given as antidepressants.
These medications are an excellent treatment for OCD and related conditions because they increase the amount of serotonin in the brain, which may help to decrease time-consuming compulsions, social anxiety, and repetitive behaviors. However, it’s important to note that medication alone won’t usually be enough, and other treatments should be considered, some of which have been mentioned above, some of which may require a partial hospital stay.
The Benefits Of Intensive Outpatient Services For OCD
When it comes to managing OCD in Massachusetts, our outpatient program for young patients who are 18 or over, older patients, and everyone in between is an ideal way to get the patient care you need from an experienced treatment team that can deal with all kinds of OCD conditions, including what you might think is treatment-resistant OCD. Here are some of the reasons why this is an excellent clinical care option to treat OCD.
Quick Access To Treat OCD
In MA, many people suffer from OCD, so the need for fast action when it comes to treating this compulsive disorder is not just well-known but crucial. With our exceptional intensive outpatient services (IOS) and other resources, you’ll get the fastest help possible in our center for OCD. This is more than traditional outpatient therapy; our OCD institute offers a treatment approach and clinical services that result in an OCD program that takes everything into account quickly and effectively.
Fewer Restrictions For The Patient
Unlike inpatient treatment, which will usually need an overnight stay (or rather, many overnight stays) in a clinic or partial hospital stay, and which clearly leads to being separated from your family members and loved ones (which is not helpful because you’ll be in a strange place and therefore more anxious), an IOS is much less restrictive and much more flexible.
With an IOS, patients attend therapy sessions during the day, and then they can go home at night to their family system. That way, they’ll get a sense of their usual routine and feel as though things are normal, but they’ll also get the help they need for their panic attacks, social anxiety, separation anxiety, skin picking, and more. Research conducted shows that this can be a huge help, and the International OCD Foundation approves of the idea of IOSs for OCD.
So Much Support
When you’re battling with OCD and need psychological services, having a strong support system is invaluable, and IOSs provide that supportive, structured environment at all times. This means people can work through their symptoms and get treatment alongside others who understand what they’re going through in group therapy sessions. Alternatively, they can try individual therapy if they would rather have one-on-one conversations with professionals.
No matter what your preferences, these support therapies and support groups are woven into the IOSs, giving patients a chance to share their experiences, talk about coping strategies, and even make friends or at least build a sense of community and connection – they’ll no longer feel so alone and scared because of their mental health condition.
Dealing With Co-Occurring Conditions
OCD often co-occurs with other mental health conditions, and there are, therefore, other factors to think about. With outpatient psychiatric services, these factors are always taken into account and all the issues are dealt with together with understanding and compassionate patient care.
Intensive outpatient services have everything they need to be able to address all the conditions someone might be suffering from, no matter how complex or difficult they might be. These conditions might otherwise be overlooked or even ignored, so this is a fantastic way to make sure they’re part of your recovery.
Contact Us For Help With Your OCD
If you or a family member is currently dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder and you want some help and treatment, come to us. We understand exactly how to help those with OCD and related disorders in Massachusetts, and we would love the chance to assist you on your recovery journey, too. To all our future patients, we say talk to us and let us know what you need; we’ll do our best to help you.
Our clinical care is second to none, and we know we can get you to a point where your OCD is no longer a factor in your daily life. Contact Atlantic today for information, advice, guidance, and to make an appointment to see our committed staff for treatment – you won’t regret it.
