Is it possible without medication?

OCD is absolutely manageable—just because someone has an opinion doesn’t mean it’s a fact. I have PTSD, OCD, GAD, social anxiety, ADD, and depression. And yet I’m subclinical (little to no symptoms) for ALL of my mental illnesses. And medication does not work on me, so I did it on my own but that all took 6 years. 6 years of hard work and stress and pain, but it was 100% worth every second of it. You are in control of your life, not anyone else. Live petty if that helps.

What your friend is misinformed. As a woman I’ve served in military and went through college and I am a psychiatric nurse. I’ve raised two kids. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s unmanageable they clearly have no clue about ocd

I manage my OCD & GAD without medications to a decent standard.

Thank you so much.

I am on light medication and have no desire to increase even though people tell me the same thing.

I’ve had people tell me I need something strong to manage my “chemical imbalance”.

It’s completely dependent on the person. Personally, I have extremely severe OCD, and while I pushed back against using medication for the first 7 years or so, eventually I could not function at all due to my symptoms and I had no choice but to try medication. It ended up completely changing my life, and it reduced the anxiety just enough to allow me to be able to do ERP. But everyone is different - whether medication is for you is between you and your own medical provider, who knows you and your history. Don’t be too disheartened by what someone says, because your situation is your own. It sounds like you’ve done an incredible job getting to where you are now, and you should be amazingly proud of that, regardless of whether or not medication is something you pursue in the future. Wishing you the best of luck in your OCD journey!

I am new here and saw this message. I had a psychiatrist that was bordering on being obsessed with OCD. And she was all about medications. Kept prescribing stuff to the point that I personally felt over medicated and incapable of getting on with my day. I decided I didn't want to live that way and slowly weaned myself off all the meds. Literally, I got up, got dressed, sat on the sofa for hours. And that was it. That was my day. Get up and make coffee, go take a nap. They never found a medication that worked because the drug formulary would not allow me to have the more expensive drugs. Or, they would and I had a glimmer of hope, and then they would send a letter stating that I could not have that medication any more and had to switch to one that's on the drug formulary and would be sent back down the rabbit hole all over again, but this time, with an array of withdrawal symptoms from being cut off from the drug unexpectedly.

Your friend's friend is absolutely clueless and a menace to the mental health community! I remember a conversation I had with my therapist, who lamented over the unfortunate fact that many of her colleagues claim to know all about OCD, but are, in reality, completely ignorant. Their brand of treatment can be a danger to people trying to be treated for the disorder. There is a wealth of evidence proving that OCD is both manageable and treatable. Is there a cure? No, but people can lead happy, normal lives by working with a trained OCD therapist who uses ERP therapy, the gold standard for OCD treatment. Want further proof? Look at all of us "OCD Conquerers" on this community board! As for medication, many folks find it helpful, so long as the psychiatrist is familiar with OCD and the meds go in tandem with talk therapy, with a trained OCD therapist using ERP. OCD is a peculiar disorder and doesn't respond well to standard therapy. That's why it's important to work with a trained OCD therapist. I know this from personal experience. At first, I went with standard therapy and it was useless. Only when I switched to a trained OCD therapist through NOCD did I begin to recover. Don't listen to your friend.