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Is OCD a chemical imbalance or something you create?


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Hi Guys,

Just finishing my second batch of CBT. My therapist said that she beleives OCD is not caused by a chemical imbalance but it's something you're brain creates from a situation/trigger and then it developed and escalates. What are your opinions on this?

Vicki

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Despite the reply on the thread Vickii and your therapists comments the fact is NOBODY knows for sure what causes OCD. The chemical imbalance is a long suggested cause, but nobody knows if the imbalance causes OCD or OCD causes imbalance.

But the point is this. It really does not matter what causes it, the key is to focus on getting rid of it. If you are now at the end of CBT, how do you feel? do you feel better or is the OCD still strong as ever?

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I think it would be advantageous if one day they did pinpoint what causes it,and I'm sure in time they will,I think with any problem be it mental or physical getting to the root cause is the way to find a cure.

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I think with any problem be it mental or physical getting to the root cause is the way to find a cure.

You are missing the point. There is already a treatment which can be highly effective.

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No I get your point I just think it's always better when we know what causes something,for instance we have have chemotherapy and radiation for cancer which can be effective but wouldn't it be nice to get to the bottom of what causes it?

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It's pointless when someone actually needs to make thinking and behavioural changes.

But as I so often say here OCD sufferers may also be habitual worriers, and be also troubled by non-OCD thinking distortions such as ignoring the positive, personalising, mind-reading and overgeneralising.

So for me identifying the ocd methodology, learning how to tackle worry and those distortions is more important.

An early diagnosis and engagement with therapy can help, as OCD can lay out a veritable spiders web of rules and restrictions if not addressed.

Edited by taurean
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The chemical imbalance is a long suggested cause, but nobody knows if the imbalance causes OCD or OCD causes imbalance.

I thought it had pretty much been shown that the chemical imbalance theory (for depression/OCD etc) was an urban myth. An explanation derived to placate sufferers but without real evidence

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But then why would, for certain people, meds have such a very profound effect on their symptoms - not just "water wings" but major reduction in actual OCD manifestation?

The meds are known to adjust the re-uptake of specific neurotransmitters, and it is this factor that produces such benefit.

I for one believe the "Brainlock" I personally suffer in an episode of OCD has a neurotransmitter malfunction behind it - either by imbalance or by a breakdown of other communication or functionality.

Edited by taurean
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But then why would, for certain people, meds have such a very profound effect on their symptoms - not just "water wings" but major reduction in actual OCD manifestation?

Again, I believe they don't really know why anti depressants work.

I'll try find some links tomorrow.....it's late now. Bedtime :)

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The amydgala is over active. It controls fear. If it doesn't know to fear something or not it turns on full alarm mode. But you can retrain it with CBT to not fear something.

Those with the opposite condition, an under active amydgala, often become extremely violent. Makes sense to me since there is no warning to not do something.

Just my opinions from research.

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I think it would be advantageous if one day they did pinpoint what causes it,and I'm sure in time they will,I think with any problem be it mental or physical getting to the root cause is the way to find a cure.

I agree with this, bruces. I'm sure that finding the cause would lead (eventually) to a better understanding of treatment required and, hopefully, lead to a cure.

I feel that treatment these days is effective in some but not succesful in many. I think we see on this forum that, for many, current treatment is not effective. If it were, we wouldn't have so many forum users or would only see peeps for a short time.

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But then why would, for certain people, meds have such a very profound effect on their symptoms - not just "water wings" but major reduction in actual OCD manifestation?

Placebo?

Not that I am suggesting it, but try taking the medication away from someone whose not had therapy and see what happens, at a guess within a few days or 3/4 weeks they will sink.... i.e. no water wings!

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The amydgala is over active. It controls fear. If it doesn't know to fear something or not it turns on full alarm mode. But you can retrain it with CBT to not fear something.

Just my opinions from research.

OCD is not always about fear. But I am not going to get into that, the point is you are right, that's a theory that is just your opinion, not a fact :)

and that's the point I am making, for years there have been loads of theories about the cause of OCD and years later nobody conclusively proved any of those, so at this time nobody is sure what causes OCD. So I recommend people focus instead on what they can do to tackle and challenge it. A far more productive use of their time and thinking.

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I rest on my own experience of something not resolving in neural transmission when my brain gets stuck. Something doesn't work then otherwise thoughts would not revolve round and round - a likely cause would seem to me to be within the neurotransmitters.

When people have bad OCD and CBT seems not enough and the serotonin drugs don't work, then it seems that sometimes targeting the other neurotransmitters can be a solution, or adding an antipsychotic.

But I don't favour the drugs at all - they are powerful with some undesirable side effects for many. I just think some do need a drug as well as CBT because of their individual specific problems.

I think whitebeam and PolarBear are good examples of this category of sufferer.

Edited by taurean
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Jeffrey Schwartz and his colleagues work on the causes of OCD, neuroplasticity and using our thoughts to rewire the brain to heal breakdowns also sits well for me.

Whilst for some I think low levels of neurotransmitters can be a key problem when they don't respond just to CBT, using it -and mindfulness - to plug into the brain's plasticity and "rewire" it is clearly a vastly important part of therapy.

In my own case, when I am able to slip away from repetitive and ruminatory behaviour through a mindfulness cue and into the present,totally in the moment, this does seem to have a calming and healing effect on disorder symptoms.

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I recommend people focus instead on what they can do to tackle and challenge it. A far more productive use of their time and thinking.

I agree.

Scientists already know a huge amount about the mechanisms that underpin OCD on the anatomical, biochemical and psychological levels and we could put together a reasonable theory of what causes OCD in the sense of what goes wrong. But nobody yet knows for sure exactly how all these factors come together to cause OCD to develop in some people and not others.

What I find interesting is the parallel in thinking between 'seeking the cause of OCD instead of tackling it' and the OCD problem of 'seeking certainty instead of acceptance'.

CBT teaches us to shift our thinking away from desiring answers and certainty towards accepting what is and moving forward.

Lets leave thinking about the cause to the scientists while we put our energies into challenging the problematic thought pathways of OCD.

Edited by snowbear
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OCD is not always about fear. But I am not going to get into that, the point is you are right, that's a theory that is just your opinion, not a fact :)and that's the point I am making, for years there have been loads of theories about the cause of OCD and years later nobody conclusively proved any of those, so at this time nobody is sure what causes OCD. So I recommend people focus instead on what they can do to tackle and challenge it. A far more productive use of their time and thinking.

In 20 years our treatment methods are going to look out of date.

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I like the idea of US the sufferers getting on with practising what we currently know as being helpful in tackling and treating the disorder.

By all means let's aid and encourage research, but leave it to the researchers and apply ourselves to doing what is currently best to reclaim our lives from the control of OCD.

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I like the idea of US the sufferers getting on with practising what we currently know as being helpful in tackling and treating the disorder.

By all means let's aid and encourage research, but leave it to the researchers and apply ourselves to doing what is currently best to reclaim our lives from the control of OCD.

Yes, the question is if its a chemical imbalance. Now common sense says that if it were we could just take a hormone to balance it out, doesn't seem like its happening. We got some ssri's that change the mood but not the imbalance.

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In 20 years our treatment methods are going to look out of date.

Absolutely, and I hope they are if we have a far better way of treating OCD that is long-lasting, and non-invasive. I guarantee (or rather suspect) it wont be a medication that makes our current treatment methods obsolete!

But with luck we will have a new, easier and more effective psychological treatment, be that an advanced version of CBT or something else completely.

But the fact remains that right now CBT is the best treatment we have for OCD (with or without meds) and remains the treatment of choice that the charity must promote and what we should all be trying to apply on a daily basis.

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Interesting thread.

Do we know the link between OCD and tourettes? I'm pretty sure I've read there is one - which lends itself to there being at least some neurological element to both. (I'm fairly sure tourettes is not psychological in origin but could be wrong about this.)

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