subject: Depression And Ocd Comorbidity [print this page] You can think of OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder as an enable of many mental illnesses. This deduction is actually very true because with OCD, the development of other mental illness in a sufferer is very likely. The reason behind this is the characteristic of OCD, a mental illness of which possibility of Comorbidity with other mental illnesses is very high. Comorbidity is the term used to refer to a condition wherein two different mental illnesses take place all at the same time to a single person.
Major depression is the most common mental illness that comorbids with OCD, in general, about two-thirds of all OCD sufferers will experience at least one episode of depression during their entire lifetime. Examining further, it can be observed that in most cases, depression occurs during the early stage of OCD, which implies that the depression could have been caused by the on-going distress that a sufferer experiences during his or her adjustment period.
Moreover, it has also been noted that there is a good link between the biological and psychological features of OCD and Major depression that makes the Comorbidity easy and fast. In both mental conditions, an observable alteration in the serotonin system is present and the regions of the brain which process emotions also show similar changes in both OCD and Major Depression cases. Both illnesses also have very similar brain patterns when exposed to negative thoughts and experiences - something which makes the similarity between the two mental illnesses very distinguishable.
Moreover, according to new research results, the symptoms of depression manifested by OCD sufferers can be also caused by the disturbing thoughts inside a sufferer's mind. Unfortunately, these thoughts cannot be controlled by the sufferer since all that the sufferer can control is his or her reaction towards the thought.
Therapy sessions are most affected when a Comorbidity is not identifies while treatment is going-on. The presence of other mental illness will only make therapies ineffective, thus it is very important for a sufferer to give advance notices to his or her therapist regarding his or her mental condition. When the sufferer and the therapist fail to distinguish if there is a Comorbidity, the treatment will most likely fail and the patient will then appear like he or she is spending for nothing.
However, when the kind of treatment use is the intake of prescription drugs such as SSRIs or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, it was found out that Comorbidity can be treated simultaneously too. Since SSRIs are known to be anti depressants, thus, it can be taken to suppress OCD obsessions while it also addresses depression.
For OCD suffers, it is very important that he or she does not hide anything from his or her treatment provider. In many cases, the treatment provider is the one who designs the kind of treatment program that best suits the patient's condition, thus it is very important that he or she knows every bit of information about the extent of OCD that the patient is suffering from.
