WHAT ARE MY TREATMENT OPTIONS?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)* can be treated in many ways: cognitive behavioral therapy, medications, and surgical treatments. Medtronic provides a therapy that can be tried if medications aren’t effective enough.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy may include exposure to a situation that creates anxiety and then learning how to prevent the habitual reaction. Another method is to teach healthy and effective ways to react to troubling thoughts.
Drug Therapies
Taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may help treat OCD. SSRIs can help regulate anxiety and obsessive thoughts.
Surgical Lesioning
In severe cases of OCD surgeries such as anterior capsulotomy, which involve destruction of certain parts of the brain, may be recommended.
Reclaim Therapy for OCD
For some with chronic, severe, treatment-resistant OCD who do not find relief after trying at least three SSRIs, Medtronic Reclaim™ DBS Therapy for OCD may be an option. Reclaim DBS Therapy for OCD is a brain stimulation therapy that offers an adjustable, reversible method of symptom treatment for OCD. The therapy uses a surgically implanted medical device, similar to a cardiac pacemaker, to deliver electrical stimulation to precisely targeted areas of the brain. Electrical stimulation may help to reduce some of the symptoms of OCD. Reclaim Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Therapy received a Humanitarian Device Exemption from the FDA for the treatment of chronic, severe, treatment-resistant OCD. The effectiveness of this device for this use has not been demonstrated.
Information on this site should not be used as a substitute for talking with your doctor. Always talk with your doctor about diagnosis and treatment information.
*
Humanitarian Device: Authorized by Federal (U.S.A.) law for use as an adjunct to medications and as an alternative to anterior capsulotomy for treatment of chronic, severe, treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in adult patients who have failed at least three selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The effectiveness of this device for this use has not been demonstrated.