Dr. Jeffrey Swartz: Free Yourself from Obsessive Compulsive Behavior (OCD), Monday, Aug. 22 on Health Notes

Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz guests on Health Notes, Monday Aug. 22. The author presents a simple four-step method for overcoming OCD that is so effective that it's now used in academic treatment centers throughout the world.

Proven by brain-imaging tests to actually alter the brain's chemistry, this method doesn't rely on psychopharmaceuticals. Instead, patients use cognitive self-therapy and behavior modification to develop new patterns of response to their obsessions. In essence, they use the mind to fix the brain.

An estimated 5 million Americans suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and live diminished lives in which they are compelled to obsess about something or to repeat a similar task over and over. Traditionally, OCD has been treated with Prozac or similar drugs. The problem with medication, aside from its cost, is that 30 percent of people treated don't respond to it, and when the pills stop, the symptoms invariably return.