What does medication do for OCD?
Medications, such as the ones listed above seem to work on restoring the right amount of chemicals that are produced by the brain. These substances, called neurotransmitters, include serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and GABA. Every time we think, feel a feeling, or do something, these chemicals are released by our bodies into microscopic spaces between thousands of nerve cells in the brain as they send information to one another. If these chemicals are reabsorbed by the body too quickly, the messages are not sent correctly. As a result, the anxiety “alarm” may not shut off, and we may have to check the stove over and over, even though we’re 99.99% sure that we did it already. Medication helps our brains to function properly, so that we are able to stop ourselves from repeating certain things unnecessarily. The upside of taking medication is that it doesn’t involve the unpleasant challenges of ERP. The downside, however, is that if medication works for us and we stop taking it, our
