OCD
What is it?
Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health states that obsessions are unwanted or intrusive thoughts or urges that surface in the mind over and over again and cause distress. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may try to reduce or ignore their obsessions by repetitively acting out certain rituals, which, when taken extreme, are called “compulsions.”
Symptoms include:
Recurrent obsessions or compulsions that interfere with your life and are time-consuming (e.g. take more than an hour per day) and cause significant distress.
Common obsessions include:
- Fear of germs or dirt
- Repeated doubting, such as whether the stove was turned off
- Focus on order
- Fear of harming oneself or others
- Fear of blurting out obscenities or having forbidden or sexual thoughts.
Common compulsions include excessive:
- Cleaning, such as washing hands too often, cleaning objects
- Checking, such as repeatedly checking paperwork for mistakes
- Ordering, such as making sure objects are in a certain order
- Hoarding
- Mental rituals, such as counting or repeating words.
Current treatments include:
Individual or group therapy that is specific to OCD. Counseling – cognitive-behavioral therapy is common – combined with medication, such as antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication, can help to reduce symptoms.
If you have been diagnosed with OCD and have had partial or no success with current treatments, you may be a candidate for IV ketamine infusions.
How can IV Ketamine infusions help?
While most studies focus on ketamine as a treatment for depression, there are promising results for other chronic conditions. In the case of OCD, a few recent studies found that ketamine treatments resulted in fast reduction of symptoms, were safe and well tolerated, and patients reported marked improvements.
If you feel this could be a suitable treatment for you, and have questions, contact us. If you would like to be referred by your doctor to the Toronto Ketamine Clinic, you can print out this form for your doctor or forward this link.
The information found on this website is not to be construed as medical advice. Please see a licensed health-care professional for help with your medical condition.