I've been reading through a number of these posts and it sounds to me like a great many of you have attention deficit disorder rather than, or in addition to, OCD. That has turned out to be my case. I have severe OCD for which I take 400 mg of zoloft every day and see a therapist once a week. It is so severe that I am on federal disability and am not allowed to handle money. I feel that it is slowly improving. The greatest improvement, however, came when my psychiatrist added strattera to the zoloft on the theory that I also had adult attention deficit disorder. This has made an amazing difference. I used to be basically paralyzed because it was necessary that I do things in the most efficient order possible. I would sit on the edge of the bed in the morning, going over and over various ways to start my day and accomplish what I needed to accomplish. For hours. The strattera has changed that. I have even once or twice managed to just jump up and do something without agonizing at all. This may seem like nothing to you but for me it was a milestone.

I suggest this because this OCD/ADD interrelationship is a relatively new discovery.

I've been reading through a number of these posts and it sounds to me like a great many of you have attention deficit disorder rather than, or in addition to, OCD. That has turned out to be my case. I have severe OCD for which I take 400 mg of zoloft every day and see a therapist once a week. It is so severe that I am on federal disability and am not allowed to handle money. I feel that it is slowly improving. The greatest improvement, however, came when my psychiatrist added strattera to the zoloft on the theory that I also had adult attention deficit disorder. This has made an amazing difference. I used to be basically paralyzed because it was necessary that I do things in the most efficient order possible. I would sit on the edge of the bed in the morning, going over and over various ways to start my day and accomplish what I needed to accomplish. For hours. The strattera has changed that. I have even once or twice managed to just jump up and do something without agonizing at all. This may seem like nothing to you but for me it was a milestone.

I suggest this because this OCD/ADD interrelationship is a relatively new discovery.

I agree. It does, in many cases, seem like ADD/ADHD/AADD go hand in hand. I'm not sure if I have OCD, but I do have ADD. I've heard of many people who have been like that. Many thanks for the announcement.

Many of the disorders overlap. Most psychiatrists/neurologists would, I think, admit that much of what they know about the physiological workings of mood, emotion, mental processes etc. is not in any way completely understood. They know from experiment that certain drugs have certain outcomes; but the exact reasons are not known. They have devised a system that takes a set of behaviors, and using the set can classify a person with a specific disorder. In my case, when I go over different disorders; I sorta shotgun across the spectrum.

From reading posts and speaking with friends, it seems that every person reacts differently to different drugs; and many take a combination of meds for this very reason.

I don't know, sometimes the labels of OCD, ADD, GAD, OCP, Schizophrenia, ODD etc. are just generalities. The generalities have meaning... otherwise we'd never met on this message board :-) But they aren't in stone.

I have been diagnosed with GAD and OCP. Although my doc disagrees with me (and he is probably right), I think that I have a problem with attention and organization. I seem to be -very- organized. But the outward organization is necessary or I can't function. I can't think with any clutter. To me, this is a way of working around the attention problem. I spend more time organizing than thinking. I also seek stimulation to get myself going. I feel most alive when doing something risky. I have taken Adderal a couple of times (without doc orders) and was amazed at how focused I was. And I didn't lose focus when things got cluttery. I could just work and think more clearly. But maybe Adderal, Strattera and all that would stimulate anybody to think better. 100 million Starbuck coffee drinkers can't function without it. Maybe we need a StratteraBucks? Or AdderalBucks? Or RitalenBucks? If I had it my way, I'd take Lexapro , Remeron and then Adderal as needed. I'd combine that with counseling from a psychologist who used CBT or something.

My wife has been diagnosed with Adult ADD but exhibits OCD like symptoms with germs. The germ scare started after our first child. She never got past it. It is hard on us all.

I think your wife's problem makes perfect sense. I am fortunate that my child is grown but this is a frightening place into which to bring a child. So many things that you cannot protect it from, I can see an obsession with germs as a logical attempt to control what you can control.