First I want to say that I have a lot of respect for you BM, I find that I often agree with the advice you give and see you post here alot helping others with their struggles, that said I have to disagree with you to a large degree on some of your conclusions.

1. If OCD is totally a chemical imbalance, then medications should be able to alleviate all of our symptoms, just like having an infection. You get an infection, you take antibiotics, and your infection goes away. People that are on SSRI's or antidepressants that have OCD still exhibit symptoms of OCD, regardless of how much and how many medications they're on.


Its not always true that simply taking a medication will cure an infection. For one you have to take the right medication and dosage. For some diseases this is easy, for others its not. On top of that brain disorders are far less well understood than, say, a skin rash or strep throat. Its a much more complex system to diagnose, comparable to trying to debug a four function calculator versus a massive super computer.

Second, medications for OCD are not cures, merely treatments. I have taken medication my whole life for asthma, it helps me manage it, but not get rid of it. And even when I'm ON asthma meds I can STILL have a flare up because of changing circumstnaces. Or others with diabetes. There are medications you have to take daily to help you manage it, but even while on these medications you aren't 100% secure, you still have to monitor your blood sugar, etc. OCD meds are for managing the disease, unfortunately there is no cure yet.


2. In 99% of the cases of OCD, there are underlying issues that the person is experiencing, or don't realize that can trigger the onset of OCD.

I would agree that outside stimuli can trigger incidences of OCD, but very often these are things that ALSO affect our brain chemistry. THis is not to say that the experience isn't part of it, just that how we experience the world and how our brain chemistry works are inextricably tied. We can't have experiences without our brain working.



3. If OCD is a chemical imbalance, then why is the age of onset anywhere from 4 years old, to 65 years old? If someone has a chemical imbalance, they should exhibit symptoms of OCD from childbirth.

Why does asthma and diabetes occur at varying time in our lives? Why do other mental disorders occur at differing times in our lives? Cause our heads are complex mixed up chemical machines and various circumstances can throw them out of whack! :) Puberty, old age, trauma, etc. Our brains are constantly shifting and changing. Diseases aren't an all or nothing type of thing, like machines humans can break down. My car didn't have problems when i first got it, but years of use and suddenly you have to fix the battery or the starter or the alternator, etc. Too bad we can't plugin parts in to our brain to replace the worn out ones ;-)



4. I think that it's easier for people to take the "easy" way out and say this is all a chemical imbalance because it's easier to say that then to dig deep down inside ourselves and take a good look at what's going on. That takes lots of hard work and years of thearpy to do.


I think this part is very true, but whether or not it is true doesn't actually change whether or not it is a chemical imbalance or not.

In truth accepting that OCD is caused by a chemical imbalance isn't going to be enough, even if you take drugs, because it affects how we live and percieve the world. Until they advance far enough to get a pill that completely fixes the brain we have to deal with managing the disease, and while SSRI's do a great job of helping that, they only help, they don't cure. Thats why its important to do therapy as well, because the drugs aren't the answer. But neither is therapy alone. It helps greatly but studies have shown that both drugs AND therapy are more effective than either alone.

The key I hope people take away from my reply is that its important to approach any prolem like this one from as multiple angles. I learned this lesson the hard way, for most of the past 15 years of my OCD i did exactly what BM is saying and focused on it as a primarily chemistry problem, which was fine as long as the meds were working, but for times when it got exascerbated, like two months ago, i realized that the meds weren't enough. I needed more help and thats when i turned to CBT. The medication is great, the CBT is great, together they are making my life a lot better. Now I don't have to rely on the medication alone, I have a safety net. Nor do I have to rely on the CBT alone. Just like a diabetic controls their disaease through medication, excercise and diet. The most effective solution is the multi-pronged one. Medication is important, therapy is important, hard work is important. And this board is important because we can help each other. We aren't just machines, we can't simply swap out broken parts. We are complex people who can help each other. Think how far the understanding of OCD has come in the last 30 years. I can only hope that 30 years from now things will be that much better and maybe smeday we won't have to deal with it anymore. That would be a really great Christmas gift in my mind :)



No one in my family has OCD except me, so I do not subscribe to the theory that OCD is hereditary. There are many people that I know that do not have parents or relatives that have OCD, so I'm not sure how you can say for sure that OCD is a hereditary disorder.



I never said that being stressd causes OCD. I said that stress and anxiety will bring the OCD symptoms to the surface.

As far as your dedication to the "chemical" theory, I also said:


So as you see, I support the theory that OCD is learned and a way for our minds to deal with stress, but I also believe that some people do have a chemical imbalance. People don't want to hear that it's a psychological issue, everyone wants to hear that you can pop a pill and make everything go away, but that's just not the case.

You also said that people often flare up while they're at their happiest, and I addressed that issue in another post.:D[/QUOTE]