For the treatment of OCD and other severe anxiety disorders, Rogers Memorial Hospital uses a strict Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach. This is not "talk therapy", but a skill learning approach.
OCD Services FAQs
You're considering making a big investment in your health and well being, and it’s not unexpected that you might have questions about what treatment is like at Rogers Memorial Hospital.
Please call 800-767-4411 to arrange for a tour of our facilities or if you have questions that are not answered here.
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For OCD, the main emphasis is a technique called Exposure and Ritual Prevention (ERP). ERP has been found to be the “treatment of choice” for OCD. Exposure refers to the gradual and repetitive exposure of an individual to their feared situations (e.g., someone with contamination obsessions touching a doorknob), or ideas (e.g., someone with contamination obsessions thinking about AIDS).
Exposure work targets the obsessions, and seeks to prolong the obsessional thought, image, or impulse long enough for the process of habituation to occur. Habituation is the natural, normal process of anxiety levels reducing with nothing more than the passage of time. Research has shown that 97% of people experience the process of habituation. Ritual Prevention is the blocking of the ritual or compulsion that would normally be performed upon exposure (e.g., hand washing, checking).
In addition to ERP, cognitive restructuring strategies are also taught. Cognitive restructuring or ‘thought challenging” is the identification and correction of “errors” in thought that create anxiety. Two errors in thought most focused on are “probability overestimation errors” and “catastrophizing errors.”
A probability overestimation error is when someone overestimates the likelihood of a bad event happening (e.g., the house will burn down if I don’t check the stove). A catastrophizing error is when someone blows out of proportion, magnifies, or catastrophizes how bad fairly likely events really are (e.g., dropping something on the floor for someone with contamination obsessions).
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The hierarchy is a list of graduated exposures ranging in severity from 0 to 7. The goal is to gradually expose you to all of your fears until you no longer experience anxiety. The hierarchy is developed through a detailed assessment. Once the hierarchy is developed, it directs the development of an individualized treatment plan.
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Many individuals with anxiety disorders respond well to a combination of medication and CBT. Research has shown that head to head CBT can be as effective as medications but combined can produce even more positive outcomes. Unlike with the use of medications where symptoms can come back if you discontinue the medication, the positive results of CBT are not lost. We do have skilled psychiatrists to evaluate and monitor the use of medications.
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As a general rule, yes, but there will always be exceptions due to other co-existing conditions and one's motivation. This is hard work for the patient, but one with high rewards.
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The items that you can and can’t bring vary depending on which center you will be staying in. As part of your orientation to the unit, staff will thoroughly check all of your belongings when you arrive. Any inappropriate items will be returned to your family or secured by Rogers Memorial staff until your discharge.
The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Center
Download this list of mandatory, recommended and optional items you may bring, as well as items that are not allowed during your stay at the OCD Center.If you have any questions after reading the list, please contact our admissions department.
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Trichotillomania is an impulse control disorder in which a person has an overwhelming urge to pull out the hair from their scalp, eyelashes, eyebrows, or other parts of the body, resulting in noticeable hair loss. Trichotillomania is estimated to affect one to two percent of the population, or four to six million Americans.
Trichotillomania is a term coined by a French dermatologist in 1889 to describe the compulsive or irresistible urge he saw in patients to pluck out their hair. The word trichotillomania is derived from the Greek thix, hair; tillein, to pull; and mania. Unfortunately, this breakdown makes the name inaccurate because people with trichotillomania are not manic.
Someone who suffers from trichotillomania will often experience a sense of increasing tension before hair pulling and can feel a sense of relief afterwards. Sometimes people even express a degree of pleasure after having "pulled."
Who suffers from trichotillomania? Trichotillomania seems to strike most frequently in the pre- or early adolescent years. In children it seems to affect as many boys as girls, however, by the adolescent years there is a higher percentage of females. Overall, roughly 1.5% of males and 3.5% of females in the United States display significant hair pulling.
Because many of those afflicted with trichotillomania do not recognize that they need help, it can be difficult to diagnose. But treatment can return sufferers to a more normal life. If you think you or someone you know may suffer from trichotillomania, you can learn more on the treatment of trichotillomania page.
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Although there is no one treatment that has been found to help everyone, a number of combinations of trichotillomania treatments have shown promise. One of the most promising trichotillomania treatments involves the use of behavior therapy.
Behavior therapy as a trichotillomania treatment works to alter hair pulling behavior by identifying the precise factors that trigger trichotillomania (hair pulling), and employing learning skills to interrupt and redirect responses to those triggers.
Trichotillomania treatments should be performed by someone who is trained in this method and well-versed in trichotillomania. The therapist may encourage hair pullers to develop an increased awareness of the times of day, emotional states, and other factors that promote hair pulling. This becomes a sign to being able to control the behavior
Some hair pullers have had success for trichotillomania treatments with behavioral devices, such as:
- Putting bandages on their fingers to interfere with hair pulling
- Being trained in behavioral monitoring techniques to help keep track of urges to pull, pulling, and situational triggers for both
- Training in respiratory control to help manage urges to pull and to reduce general stress and anxiety
- Using exposure therapy through a gradual, hierarchical approach
- Training in habit reversal and stimulus control procedures
Other trichotillomania treatments also include the use of medications or pharmaceutical therapy, which have also shown promise in reducing the severity of trichotillomania symptoms, especially when coupled with behavior therapy.
If you or someone you know may require treatment for trichotillomania, contact Rogers Memorial Hospital at 1-800-767-4411 for an initial needs assessment or a referral to a treatment provider in your area.
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Obsessive compulsive disorder medications commonly used are serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs), which increase the availability of serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain. The effect of obsessive compulsive disorder medications is gradual and can take 3 weeks or more before any benefit is realized. The full benefit of obsessive compulsive disorder medications may take 4 months or more.
Obsessive compulsive disorder medications commonly used are clomipramine (Anafranil), fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine (Luvox), paroxetine (Paxil), or Sertraline (Zoloft). Obsessive compulsive disorder medications approved for the treatment of children are clomipramine, fluvoxamine and sertraline.
About 50 to 60 percent of those treated with obsessive compulsive disorder medication alone report at least moderate reduction in obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms. The percentage increases to about 85 when obsessive compulsive disorder medication is combined with cognitive behavior therapy.
Obsessive compulsive disorder medications should be administered by a physician following a thorough assessment. For an initial needs assessment or a referral to a treatment provider in your area, contact Rogers Memorial Hospital at 1-800-767-4411 or 262-646-4411.