- What is and what is not OCD?
- Is OCD curable?
- At what age does OCD begin?
- Is there a trigger for OCD? Can it be prevented?
- Are there differences in the symptoms of OCD experienced by boys and girls?
- How long do symptoms have to last for an OCD diagnosis?
- What is the treatment for OCD?
- What is the approximate time it takes for a person with OCD to experience a reduction in their symptoms during therapy?
- If you take medication and it works, do you need to take it for life?
- Do yoga, meditation, or other therapies work for OCD?
- Is OCD dangerous for the person who has it?
- How can we differentiate OCD from the symptoms of ASD?
- If a child with ASD has OCD, should we leave it alone or try to reduce or eliminate it?
- Is OCD associated with ADHD or bipolar disorder?
- How can I tell if my son or daughter has OCD?
- My daughter's hair is constantly breaking, which weakens it. She's even gone into the house up to 10 times to check that the gas was off. What can we do to stop her?
- How can we help our daughter with OCD to gain more self-confidence and reduce her anxiety?
- Why does a person with OCD generally have thoughts related to magic and religion?
- What should mothers do if they detect exaggerated symptoms in their children that cause suffering?
- Can people with pathological jealousy be treated with strategies similar to those used for people with OCD?
- I have an 11-year-old daughter who does a lot of things that seem like OCD. Is a diagnosis necessary? I'm afraid the label will overshadow the disorder itself, and that any behavior will be excused because she has OCD.
- I was diagnosed with OCD 20 years ago, I can't stop talking to myself (silently or in a low voice) and I get very distracted. Why might this be and what can I do?
- What can we, as a family, do if our adult daughter refuses help and has no interest in getting better?
- When my OCD drives the people around me crazy, what should they do?
- What is the difference between having tics and doing compulsions?
What is the approximate time it takes for a person with OCD to experience a reduction in their symptoms during therapy?
It is difficult to establish a treatment response timeframe that applies to everyone. Generally, if we use medication to treat someone with OCD, it will be necessary to wait 12 to 16 weeks, once the person has reached the appropriate dose of the medication, to properly assess their response. In some treatment strategies (for example, when we add a reduced-dose antipsychotic to someone who has shown partial improvement with a serotonin-adrenergic drug), we should observe the response after 3–4 weeks.
In the case of drugs, it is especially important to respect two maxims: take the drugs at the correct anti-obsessive dose (higher than the dose used when only seeking their antidepressant effect) and do so for a sufficient time.
In the case of people receiving behavioral therapy, a minimum of 10-12 sessions are usually necessary to observe improvements in less severe cases, and a minimum of 20 sessions is recommended if the symptoms are more severe (usually the sessions are carried out weekly, but there are also some intensive cognitive-behavioral therapy programs, in which the sessions are daily, which allows for a faster improvement of the symptoms).
