Our Services / OCD

What is OCD?

People diagnosed with OCD experience obsessions, uncontrollable thoughts, and/or compulsions, which are behaviors you feel compelled to perform following an obsession.

Obsessive thoughts create extreme anxiety. Ritualistic compulsive behavior develops in an effort to stop the thoughts and relieve the anxiety. While compulsions may temporarily stop your obsessions, the thoughts will return. As a result, OCD is an ongoing cycle of unwanted thoughts and the urgent need to act out behaviors.

What types of obsessions and compulsions might I experience?

Some of the most common obsessions include:

• Fear of germs
• Fear of being harmed
• Need to keep things symmetrical
• Need to put items in a specific order

Compulsions often follow the theme of your obsession. For example, you may frequently wash your hands to eliminate germs or rearrange items on a shelf even though they’re in perfect order.

When you have OCD, you can’t disengage from repetitive thoughts, and you can’t stop from following through with your behavior. As a result, OCD causes significant distress and takes up a lot of time during the day, interfering with your normal daily activities.

How does ketamine improve OCD symptoms?

Mental health professionals treat OCD with psychotherapy and medications that target specific symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. However, conventional treatments don’t always help. That’s when you may benefit from ketamine infusions.

Ketamine is an alternative therapy that, when infused in sub-anesthetic doses, can alleviate OCD, as well as the depression and anxiety that often accompany OCD.

Ketamine acts directly on receptors in your brain, where it increases levels of a brain chemical called glutamate. Since glutamate abnormalities contribute to OCD, your symptoms improve as ketamine restores balance.

What should I expect during ketamine treatment?

After an initial consultation to evaluate your medical history and determine if you’re a good candidate for ketamine therapy, the ReYou Ketamine Treatments team administers ketamine using an intravenous (IV) infusion.

A series of treatments produces optimal results, so the practice schedules you for several infusions a week for about three to six weeks, depending on your individualized treatment plan.

During your treatment, you relax in a reclining chair, while the specialists start the infusion and monitor your heart rate and blood pressure. Once your infusion is finished, you’ll need to get a ride home because you can’t drive for 24 hours.

To learn how ketamine can help your OCD, call ReYou Ketamine Treatments or book an appointment online.