Will I have to take anti-obsessional medications forever?

No one knows how long patients should take these medications once they have been effective. Some patients areable to discontinue medications after a six- to twelve-month treatment period. However, it does appear that more than half of OCD patients(and maybe many more) will need to be on at least a low dosage of medication for years,perhaps even for life. It seems likely that the risk of relapse will be lower if patients learn to use behavior-therapy techniques while they are doing well on medication that is tapered very slowly (even over several months).

The behavioral techniques may enable patients to control any symptoms that return when they stop taking medication. Typically, after medications are stopped, symptoms do not return immediately, but they may start to return within a few weeks to a few months. When one of these drugs is working and then discontinued and symptoms return, the vast majority of patients have a good response upon reinstitution of the medication. However, I have now seen a few patients who did not respond when the discontinued drug was restarted.

The information is sourced from an article written by : Michael A. Jenike, M.D.Chairman.

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