Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Case Analysis

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Regina is a 20 year-old single female who is struggling to obtain her business degree at a mid-sized university. In the last two and a half years she has only received 26 credit hours. Seeing that she is having problems, her adviser along with her parents, suggested that she attend therapy. Regina is frequently having anxiety about germs and performing certain rituals in order to lessen her anxiety. In order to be comfortable in her classes, she feels she must arrive early, find a specific desk on a certain row, and thoroughly clean the desk and seat before she can be seated. Also, before she can leave her off-campus apartment in the morning, she is finding herself spending more and more time cleaning her apartment, then showering and getting dressed, and then cleaning the bathroom thoroughly. Regina also has found herself fearful of eating in restaurants and going to eat at family and friends homes. Her fear of germs is intensifying and prohibiting her from having adequate relationships. This is leaving her to feel quite isolated and lonely. Regina is presenting symptoms that would best meet the criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, based on the DSM-IV-TR. Her obsessions consist of recurrent and persistent thoughts and impulses that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and inappropriate and cause marked anxiety or distress. The thoughts and impulses are not simply excessive worries about real-life problems. She is showing repetitive behaviors that meet the compulsion criteria by her need to clean her apartment every morning and to clean her desk each day before class in order to relieve her feelings of anxiety. Regina has recognized that her anxiety about germs and the amount of time she spen... ... middle of paper ... ...4-398. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.71.2.394 Conceição do Rosario-Campos, M., Leckman, J. F., Mercadante, M. T., Shavitt, R. G., Prado, H. S., Sada, P., Zamignani, D. & Miguel, E. C. (2001). Adults with early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 1899-1903. McLean, P. D., Whittal, M. L., Thordarson, D. S., Taylor, S., Söchting, I., Koch, W. J., Paterson, R. & Anderson, K. W. (2001). Cognitive versus behavior therapy in the group treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 69 (2), 205-214. doi: 10.1037//0022-006X.69.2.205 Taylor, S., Afifi, T. O., Stein, M. B., Asmundson, G. J. G., & Jang, K. L. (2010). Etiology of obsessive beliefs: A behavioral –genetic analysis. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy: An International Quarterly, 24 (3), 177-186. doi: 10.1891/0889-8391.24.3.177

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