Handling OCD

But all is not lost. Such compulsive behaviour can be treated with a com­bination of medicines and cognitive. behaviour therapy.

"Nearly 70 per cent patients bene­fit from medicines called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, an anti-depressant," says Dr Chan­drasekhar.

Some psychiatrists try to change a patient's behaviour through cogni­titive behaviours, therapy others force patients to confront their obsessions and feel the distress for an lhour everyday so that they get over it. In extreme cases patients go in for surgery where a part of the brain controlling the neural responses is removed.

OCD CHECKLIST

• Do you have fears thoughts, images feeling or ideas that upset you.
• Do you feel you have to repeat check or do things over and over again?
• Do you think about certain sounds, images words or numbers all the times?
• Do you feel you have to do things in a particular pattern or a particular number of times otherwise all will not be well?