Thoughts Rummage

Very good questions. I have a lot of experience with ssris. Heres the deal. When prozac, the first ssri, was discovered they loved it because it was considered safe. Safe meaning not toxic to your organs. You were unable to overdose on them and die. If a depressed patient swallowed 30 pills they wouldnt die or have permanent organ damage. Also the ssri had very minimal interactions with other medications or foods. The previous antidepressants like maoi and trycylic were dangerous. They were only prescribed in certain circumstances. When prozac was discovered it was like they discovered the fountain of youth. So doctors were given the green light big pharm to prescribe them to anyone feeling blue. Problem is the ssris also shared many side effects of maoi and tricyclic- sexual disfunction, weight gain, fatigue, etc etc. But those side effects were considered manageable and not serious enough to warrant not approving them. With regard to serotonin, ssri are clearly shown to increase levels of serotonin in the brain and gut. And thereby cause the patient to feel more relaxed and ease anxiety. Just like many other substances decrease anxiety- alcohol, antihistamine, pain killers, etc. There is absolutely zero proof one is born with "low serotonin." What we are born with is genetic predispositions to anxiety disorders like ocd. You will hear every psychologist tell you that erp is the gold standard for ocd. Period. However you have to employ it correctly and challenge yourself for it to work. By the time some people get to an ocd therapist, certain obsessions and compulsions are so engrained its difficult for them to make the changes necessary to heal. Empirical evidence shows that when erp is employed correctly and the patient complies they get better. Also, let me tell you about psychiatrists and primary care physcians. They dont give two shits about psychotherapy. Their education is in biochemistry. They dont have time to study things like cbt and erp and the like. They need to stay up to date on medicine.

Ive never heard more women are diagnosed with ocd than men but if true it could be because women are more likely to discuss feelings and troubles than men. And the whole strep thing sounds weird to me. Maybe theres some truth there. Every kid i grew up with got strep. Ive had ocd since as far back as i can remember. Since like first grade. They think more males develop ocd in childhood than females. To me it seems strange that someone would develop ocd later in life like teenager or adult years. But maybe the gene was there but there wasnt an environment to unleash it and something happened later in life to release it.