Managing obsessive compulsive disorder.

Unlike obsessive compulsive personality traits or occasional repetitive habits, obsessive compulsive disorder can be highly distressing and associated with significant disability. Treatment should always be offered. Psychological interventions and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are first-line treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder. Patients with obsessive compulsive disorder respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors at a slower rate than those with depression. The dose of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor can be increased at two-week intervals depending on the patient's response. Aim for doses in the higher therapeutic range. Improvements from treatment usually plateau at 12 weeks. Successful treatment should continue for at least 12 months. There is a significant risk of relapse when treatment is stopped.