Do SSRIs work for obsessive thoughts?

I just got given 10mg of Citalopram from my doctor after telling him that I'm having anxiety over thoughts of death.
I'm just wondering if they work for physical anxiety symptoms as well as obsessive thoughts. These thoughts have been going on for around a week. They focus on my mortality and there are not really any compulsions, just obsessing over the idea of death in general. The thoughts caused a lot of physical anxiety and I had what appeared to be a panic attack two days ago.


However, before this episode I had obsessions and compulsions that didn't ever cause me to get physically anxious. They just caused urges rather than anxiety so I'm just wondering if the Citalopram would help with the urge to repeat actions and help with my excessive worry about things such as illness, how I look, social situations, pregnancy scares. These everyday things that I obsess over don't cause physical anxiety, just urges to do things. Will the medication work for that? I'm just worried that the medication won't work for things that don't cause physical anxiety, just urges.

Yes and no. It depends on the person. I was on Cipralex (Lexapro in the US) which is an SSRI, but it had really bad side effects, however, SSRI's are most effective for OCD, so they are first choice, but they don't work for everyone. Citalopram is also an SSRI which is closely related to Cipralex (escitalopram). The thing is, medication alone cannot effectively treat OCD. A combination of therapy (CBT) and medication would be ideal.

-- Wed Dec 09, 2015 1:50 am --

Yes and no. It depends on the person. I was on Cipralex (Lexapro in the US) which is an SSRI, but it had really bad side effects, however, SSRI's are most effective for OCD, so they are first choice, but they don't work for everyone. Citalopram is also an SSRI which is closely related to Cipralex (escitalopram). The thing is, medication alone cannot effectively treat OCD. A combination of therapy (CBT) and medication would be ideal.

I will also be getting CBT so fingers crossed that I can get my life back on track