Medication
There’s no shame in needing medication for your brain!
Medication is usually used alongside ERP, to help quieten some of the noise and help you grow stronger against OCD. Medication does not do the work for you, if they did, therapists wouldn’t have jobs and we’d all be laughing if it was such a quick fix! But it’s not so thank goodness for therapists!
There are loads of different brands of brain meds for OCD and a lot of it will come down to trial and error. I got lucky with mine and the first one I tried was a fit. You will usually have to start at the lowest dose then slowly work up (with the guidance and advice from a medical professional and a therapist) to what is a good dose for you. It’s taken 2ish years for me to go from 50mg to 150mg of Sertraline.
Don’t let that length of time deter you though, because it will help no matter the dose, you might just notice if you plateau with exposures or there’s a couple or stubborn areas of OCD that are still too much to deal with alone or an increased dose can help jump start your progress again.
Brain meds can take a while to be effective, taking up to 6 months before you notice their full effects (I didn’t notice much, if anything until about 3 months), again don’t let this deter you if meds is something you need.
There is a lot of stigma around taking brain meds and honestly I’ve never understood why! Deciding to take medication for your brain is not an easy choice, there’s a whole lot of side effects that need to be considered.
Some people think it’s weak to succumb to the help of medication, when in fact it is the strongest thing you can do for yourself if meds have been recommended by professionals.
If you do decide on taking medication it will be scary, this just means you’re super brave!
You don’t need to listen to anyone else’s opinion on the matter because you are the only one who can make this decision (providing you haven’t been sectioned).
You might hear things like “oh, don’t take medication, it messes with your brain chemistry!” Firstly, no shit Sherlock! And secondly, this is exactly why you would take the medication, because your brain does not provide enough serotonin to keep you balanced so a little help from a packet with a sip of water is what you need!