OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by recurrent obsessions or repetitive actions or rituals that are immediately meaningless and very frustrating to the person. OCD can be a severely disabling disorder that can last a lifetime for some people. The disorder is equally prevalent between men and women. In 85 percent of those who get OCD, the disease begins in adolescence.


SYMPTOMS

People who suffer from OCD experience obsessions (obsessions), which are repeated unpleasant thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations or images that one sees for one’s inner gaze. They are frightening or unpleasant and are often about fear of infection, disease and violence. This can, for example, be reflected in coercive actions (compulsions) such as and excessive washing mania. Or it can result in a urge to control doors, locks or hobs (check compulsion) or do things in a special way (rituals). One can have more or less severe OCD. Some have it in a mild form, where they only occasionally have obsessions or perform obsessions, while others may become so preoccupied with obsessions or of performing various obsessions that it seizes large parts of the day.

TREATMENT IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM

Medical treatment and psychotherapy are used. Many need both forms of treatment.

CAUSE

Heredity plays a role, but other factors also play a role. There is much to suggest that the inability to stop one’s own unwanted behaviour is due to a neurobiological disorder in the brain. In people with OCD and similar disorders, the cooperation between the forehead lobes and the so-called basal ganglia is probably disturbed. The connections between these two structures are affected, among other things, by the neurotransmitter serotonin. Perhaps this may explain why antidepressants, which increase the concentration of serotonin between nerve cells, work against OCD.

However, obsessive-compulsive symptoms are also frequently seen in connection with depression, including postpartum depression or other mental disorders such as schizophrenia.

NORDIC CLINICS TREATMENT

At Nordic Clinic, the treatment of OCD is based on the basic functions in the body. Often digestion and liver detoxification play a role. Therefore, either stool samples are used to elucidate any digestive problems. To examine the detoxification, a urine sample is used which tells about the body’s detoxification processes, both phase 1 and phase 2 work optimally. In addition, there is a focus on whether proteins from milk and gluten are digested inappropriately so that neuropeptides are formed which, like in autistic people, can influence behaviour. The treatment will also focus on nutrients that can create calm and have an anxiolytic effect. People with OCD who have received treatment at the Nordic Clinic have described that the treatment helps them to better control their OCD and that it is no longer the OCD that controls them.

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