What Are the Treatments for OCD?

What Are the Treatments for OCD? (0:50)

There are two basic treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder: Behavior therapy and antidepressants. In this video, Wayne Goodman, MD, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, discusses both therapies.

Read Transcript

There are two basic treatments for OCD. Really the mainstays of treatment are behavior therapy, and the use of a class of anti-depressants called serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. By and large, they're equally effective in OCD. Some studies suggest that the combination is the most effective treatment.

Other studies are unclear as to whether there's an advantage of combining them. In my own practice, generally when we can we do combine medications with behavior therapy.