This week Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Christopher Sege about therapy and treatment tailored to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Dr. Sege is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. It's estimated that over 3 million adults in the U.S. have been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD. Doctor Christopher Sege is here to talk about therapy and treatment tailored to OCD. Doctor Sege is a clinical psychologist and he's Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at MUSC. Doctor Sege, give us a brief summary of obsessive compulsive disorder.
Dr. Sege: Sure. Well, OCD really is about those two things obsessions, which are these repetitive, intrusive thoughts that revolve around a particular theme. They come up very frequently throughout the day, and they really feel true and dangerous to somebody with OCD. And then there are those compulsions which are those actions, behaviors, or rituals that get performed repeatedly with the purpose of canceling out or removing those intrusive thoughts. And then beyond that, the other key feature of OCD is really that symptoms have gotten to a point where they consistently take up a lot of time, and they've become disruptive to people's ability to live the life that they want to live.
Conner: At what point might therapy be beneficial for an individual who struggles with some of these symptoms?
Dr. Sege: Well, you know, I find that for people with OCD, the disorder really tells them a lot of things about themselves that are not true. It tells them that you're a bad person or an unclean person when you're really not. It tells you that you need to do these special things to cope with the world when you really don't have to. And when we talk about treatment options, that's really what we're trying to reduce. That fear of those intrusive thoughts and that strong feeling that I need to do something special to cope with the world. And so, with that in mind, I would say anyone who finds that obsessions or compulsions are impacting their views of themselves or their ability to do what they want, would be a great candidate for treatment.
Conner: And what sort of therapy or treatment is helpful for people who have OCD?
Dr. Sege: Well, there are two first line options for OCD. The first one being behavioral therapy with a specific form of cognitive behavioral treatment called exposure and response prevention, or ERP. And then the other is medication treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs. And either of these options can be highly effective for a lot of people with OCD. And then often it's also particularly effective to combine these two treatments to really get to a solid and stable remission point.
Conner: And can you tell us just very briefly about this ERP therapy? What's that all about?
Dr. Sege: Well, ERP really boils down to partnering with the therapist to help kind of work through, in a step by step way, practicing activities that might feel anxiety producing or unmanageable right now, but really are also important to your goals, or even are just things that you want to be able to do. And so, it's really systematic and personalized. It looks different from person to person. I think a good example of what an ERP exercise might involve could be just putting your hands in the dirt for a little while. That might be an exercise that might feel very dangerous to a person with cleanliness related OCD at first, but it's also very safe in reality, and it might be also very important to that person if they value gardening as a joyful activity or they want to work as a farmer. Those kinds of activities, engaging in those things really helps the person learn a sense that I can actually handle these things. And ultimately the goal is empowerment. I can live my life without having to be afraid of the intrusive thoughts that I might have sometimes, or feeling a need to perform compulsive actions, even if that urge does come up.
Conner: Doctor Sege, thanks for this information about OCD.
Dr. Sege: Thank you for having me.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
