While medication helps level chemical imbalances, behavior therapy helps patients to learn to resist their obsessions and compulsions. In therapy, patients are gradually exposed to the things which cause their anxieties and provoke the obsessive behaviors. However, they are not allowed to perform the rituals that usually relieve the anxiety. Over time, patients learn that their feared consequences do not occur, and their anxieties decrease. Behavior therapy has been proven very effective, but its effectiveness relies on the patient's willingness to follow the treatment as prescribed by the doctor.
Group therapy brings patients together to share experiences and draw support from one another.
Living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder can disrupt a victim's life. It can keep someone from going to work or attending school. It can keep someone from living in his or her own house. It can be embarrassing to the extent that a person refuses to seek treatment.