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Nix the Meds when Treating Teens with OCD

For many children and teens with obsessive-compulsive disorder, unfondly called OCD, a combination of medication and psychotherapy can be effective. However, many doctors and researchers feel that the therapy may be the better choice of the two if at all possible. There is non-medication treatment called ERP or exposure and response prevention that seems to be having some positive effects on children and teens, only the treatment is not as widely available as the drug treatment program. However, with ERP, there are fewer lingering symptoms of OCD.

The exposure and response prevention therapy has shown to be quite effective in the short term and the beneficial effects endure for a longer period of time than medication. The great thing about this ERP therapy is that it provides these teens and children with OCD some tools for coping for the long term rather than trying to rely on a drug to keep those impulses in check. Millions of people, both children and adults have OCD and it is quite unclear as to how exactly an individual develops the disorder.

While ERP coupled with some cognitive-behavioral therapy is the best solution for children and teens with OCD, the problem lies in the fact that too few therapists are practiced or well-versed in this non-drug treatment. When a person with OCD is treated using the exposure and response prevention, they are essentially being constantly faced with the very thing that kicks in their obsession and must keep from responding with compulsive conduct.

For instance, if a child has a compulsive need to wash their hands after every activity or sharing a toy, that child would have to practice not running to the sink after playing with a toy and instead continue playing or doing some other type of activity. A teen that must continue to check to see if the light is off in their room would be repeatedly pulled away from their room to prevent the repetitive behavior.

When a teen or child takes medication for their OCD, it's harder to wean them from the drug. The reason is that a relapse might occur once the medication is stopped and the condition could develop even worse than before. Medications for OCD like the serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SRIs are for more long-term treatment.

There have been quite a few studies done that have compared long treatment programs with one group of OCD teens on a drug treatment protocol while another group of OCD teens on the ERP. Of course, the drug was taken every day as prescribed while the teens on ERP therapy meet several times a week and involved parental participation and such.

The results of the comparison between OCD drug treatment and ERP therapies was very close. Both groups showed good improvement in terms of dealing with their OCD symptoms. However, the lingering symptoms of OCD were milder or all together gone in the ERP therapy. ERP is not a cure for OCD although symptoms could be greatly reduced.

One hard part is finding a therapist in your area that works not only with OCD children and teens but also with the ERP therapy. Another thing, parents have a hard time watching their teen struggling to face these misplaced fears and prefer medication intervention instead. For those with access to ERP therapy, stick with it as it will take time to improve; however, once a person does start to improve, those effects will linger a while.