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The National Library of Medicine discusses the benefits of supplements for treating various mental health disorders, specifically for treating Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is a “Nueropsychiatric disorder that is character used by obsessions and compulsions. The recommended treatments for OCD are cognitive-behavioral therapy using exposure and response prevention and/or pharmacotherapy.” (Karc 1). The article goes into great detail about how many different supplements have been used and proven to be helpful in terms of treating OCD. For example, vitamin D is discussed in how it utilizes important functions in order to help brain development and functioning. “Previous studies have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is associated with numerous neuropsychiatric diseases that include autism, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and OCD. “There are several possible relationships between vitamin D and OCD pathophysiology. One of these is the association between the active form of vitamin D3 (1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3) and tyrosine/tryptophan hydroxylase.” (Karc 1). It is important, if you are struggling with mental health, to go get blood works and labs in order to determine if there is a certain deficiency there that could possibly be improved upon in order to help with a mental health related problem. Personally, I struggle with OCD and when it was the worst, I went for bloodwork and found that I was Vitamin D, Iron and B12 deficient. All vitamins and supplements that deal with brain processing. Once finding this out, I was able to get things such as a B12 shot, or an iron supplement that have significantly improved my struggle with OCD. Not only are these things important to make sure you are keeping up with, for someone who might be uneasy about going on an antidepressant or starting up a medication, it might be worth your while to try taking supplements that are proven to improve brain processing.
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