That's the million dollar question these days. Psychiatry is still struggling with the drugs vs. therapy question, especially since new research has shown that even simple meditation can alter brain chemistry over a prolonged period.

The late 90s was the real pill-pushing period, in my experience. You went to a psych, they wanted to give you meds. These days things are more nuanced. I started seeing a psych again a couple of years ago, and literally for eight months we did nothing in our appointments but talk. Then, after that, he prescribed me clonozepam, which is pretty mild as far as meds go.

Therapies such as cognitive behaviorial therapy have proven to work wonders on some OCD patients, but there is a certain level of commitment to exercises required that some people can't handle...often because of anxiety, depression, or other issues. That's often when meds need to be prescribed. These days most psych patients do a combination of both.

People are not the same, and these things work on a case by case basis. Oddly it's taken psychiatry a long time to realize this.