OCD
Treating OCD at the Root Cause
We specialize in TMS Therapy for safe and effective treatment of OCD.
What is OCD?
At Knoxville Neurocare Therapy, our therapists have expertise in treating various mood disorders through TMS Therapy.
What is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions). These obsessions and compulsions interfere with daily activities and cause significant distress.29
You may try to ignore or stop your obsessions, but that only increases your distress and anxiety. Ultimately, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to try to ease your stress. Despite efforts to ignore or get rid of bothersome thoughts or urges, they keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior — the vicious cycle of OCD.29
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How does TMS Therapy treat OCD?
TMS Therapy non-invasively targets abnormal circuitry of OCD in the brain.
Prior to each treatment, patients undergo individually tailored provocations to activate the abnormal OCD circuitry (for instance, asking a person with germ-related obsessions and compulsions to touch the floor and then not use hand sanitizer).31
Frequently Asked Questions
Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually includes both obsessions and compulsions. But it’s also possible to have only obsession symptoms or only compulsion symptoms, as detailed below:29
Obsessions often have themes to them, such as:
- Fear of contamination or dirt
- Doubting and having difficulty tolerating uncertainty
- Needing things orderly and symmetrical
- Aggressive or horrific thoughts about losing control and harming yourself or others
- Unwanted thoughts, including aggression, or sexual or religious subjects
Examples of obsession signs and symptoms include:
- Fear of being contaminated by touching objects others have touched
- Doubts that you’ve locked the door or turned off the stove
- Intense stress when objects aren’t orderly or facing a certain way
- Images of driving your car into a crowd of people
- Thoughts about shouting obscenities or acting inappropriately in public
- Unpleasant sexual images
- Avoidance of situations that can trigger obsessions, such as shaking hands
As with obsessions, compulsions typically have themes, such as:
- Washing and cleaning
- Checking
- Counting
- Orderliness
- Following a strict routine
- Demanding reassurance
Examples of compulsion signs and symptoms include:
- Hand-washing until your skin becomes raw
- Checking doors repeatedly to make sure they’re locked
- Checking the stove repeatedly to make sure it’s off
- Counting in certain patterns
- Silently repeating a prayer, word or phrase
- Arranging your canned goods to face the same way
OCD is diagnosed during a physical and psychiatric exam when obsessions and compulsions:30
- Take up at least one hour each day
- Are distressing
- Interfere with daily life
Always see your healthcare provider for a diagnosis.
