Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Imagine if you couldn’t get your job done because throughout your shift you had to continuously wash your hands. To many people this would be an easy problem but not if you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Several little thoughts or rituals irritate a person with OCD daily. There are many factors, symptoms, and treatments regarding OCD.
OCD is known as one of the anxieties disorders (geocities). It can be a crippling condition that can persist throughout a person’s life (geocities). Someone who suffers from OCD can become trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that are senseless and distressing but very difficult to overcome (geocities). OCD is linked to a kind of “short-circuit” in the way the brain processes worry thoughts (kids health). People with OCD have obsessions and compulsions.
Obsession is defined as a compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or unwanted emotion (American Heritage). “Obsessions lead to anxiety (kids health).” To relieve their anxiety people will perform compulsions. Compulsion is defined as an irresistible impulse to act (American Heritage). An example of this would be someone who feels dirty may wash their hands 100 times a day (kids health). “In the United States, more than one million children this disorder (kids health).
No one knows for sure exactly what causes OCD (kids health). However, OCD and related disorders do run in families (kids health). Scientists have not found what is passed on to make a person more prone to have OCD (kids health). Scientists believe it could be a communication problem with the front of the brain and other parts that use neurotransmitters (kids health). Though the cause is not known there are numerous symptoms for OCD.
OCD symptoms normally will start to show during teenage years or early adulthood (geocities). The person will start to continuously experience disturbing thoughts such as: “My hands are contaminated, I must wash them;” “I may have left the gas on;” or “I am going to injure my child” (geocities). “These thoughts are intrusive, unpleasant, and produce a high degree of anxiety” (geocities). The most common compulsions are washing and checking (geocities).
Dr. Ian Osborne tells an account of a man who had fears that his hands were infected (11). This man repeatedly washed and scrubbed his hands until they bled (Osborne 11). Dr. Osborne also notes a college female who couldn’t stop bombarding herself with questions (23).
OCD is broken down into two components the obsession and the compulsion. The first component; obsession is when an individual is consistently having these reoccurring thoughts or images about a certain problem or issue in their life. For example; an individual that has OCD can have a constant thought or image about getting sick or dying from the various germs or diseases that people contract every day. So this individual goes to the extreme to make sure that they do not contract any of these germs or diseases. That is when the compulsive component begins. This is when the individual takes these extreme actions to protect themselves from whatever they have these high anxiety feelings about. So continuing using the same example; this individual will consistently clean their homes every day for several hours at a time. They tend to clean their hands several times when out in public and are very tedious about where they go and what they touch while in public. They are also very caution about how they interact with other people. They just take extra steps to protect themsel...
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a disease that afflicts up to six million Americans, however all its characteristics are yet to be fully understood. Its causes, triggers, attributes, and variations are still unknown although effective medicines exist to treat the symptoms. OCD is a very peculiar disease as Rapoport discusses it comes in many different forms and have different symptoms yet have many similarities. One sure aspect is that it appears, or at least its symptoms do, out of the blue and is triggered either by stressful experiences or, most of the time, just appears out of nowhere. One example is a boy who's father was hard on him for being affected by the worlds "modern ways", the boy at a high school party tries LSD ( a hallucinatory drug), after that thoughts of whether his mind was dangerously affected by the drug. What seemed like completely appropriate worrying and anxiety turned into attacks of anxiety, he couldn't shake the thoughts that something was wrong with his mind. Essentially he had "his mind on his mind" constantly and that haunted his days his thought were as follows: " did the lsd do anything to my mind? The thought never went away ; instead it got more and more complicated. There must be something wrong with my mind if i am spending so much time worrying about it. Is there something wrong with my mind? Was this from the lsd? Will it ever get better?" (The boy who, J. L. Rapoport 125,126) Dr. Rapoport promptly put him on Anafranil (an anti-depressant, used for OCD, not marketed in the U.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder which causes people to develop an anxiety when certain obsessions or compulsions are not fulfilled. OCD can affect both children and adults with more than half of all adults with OCD stating that they experienced signs as a child. People living with OCD display many obvious signs such as opening and closing a door fifty times because they have to do it “just right”. Others exhibit extreme cleanliness and will wash their hands or take showers as often as they can because they constantly feel dirty. OCD devastates people’s social lives as they are fixated and obsessed with perfection that can take forever to achieve. However people living with OCD are often found to have an above average intelligence and typically excel at school due to their detail oriented mindset, cautious planning and patience. OCD can be caused by many different factors such as genetics or the ever changing world a...
Some symptoms of Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are fear of germs, perfectionism, and rituals. When someone has OCD they are afraid of germs and might constantly be washing their hands or cleaning their room. Someone who suffers from OCD needs everything to be perfect and they might organize their closet by color size. Their rituals calm their anxiety. Certain rituals are things such as checking the stove a certain number of times to make sure it is off or tap their finger a number of times just because it makes them feel better. Obsessive compulsive disorder can be associated with other mental disorders that cause stress and anxiety, but it can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication.
There are a couple evident symptoms of OCD. People tend to do an action over and over again to calm their anxiety levels. They tend to not be able to control unwanted thoughts or actions, and spend minimum an hour each day on the obsessing rituals which gets in their way for daily life. Common obsessions are needs for symmetry or order, fear of germs, causing harm to other people, dirt or germs, etc. Common compulsions include constant bathing, hoarding of items, constant counting, etc. These signs can interfere with a person’s life and ruin relationships with others.
Obsessive Compulsive disorder also known in simpler terms as OCD is a disorder that is classified under the anxiety disorders. OCD is the result of paranoia within ones brain. Although having the diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a start there are many sub groups and types of OCD that someone may possibly posses either one or a multitude of them. One of the highest diagnosed sub-types of OCD is Compulsive Checking. In this type of OCD the person diagnosed has a fear that they will be harmed or harm someone else by everyday tasks. Compulsive checking can wreak havoc on the inflicted person’s life typically in more ways than one. “Perceptions of danger and intolerance of uncertainty again emerged as cognitive variables that play important roles in mediating obsessive-compulsive checking behavior” (Overton & Menzies, 2005). OCD can be linked with an earlier life experience and can be helped by therapeutic means or medication.
The most common symptoms of OCD include: fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others, fear of causing harm to yourself or others, intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images, excessive focus on religious or moral ideas, fear of losing or not having things you might need, order and symmetry: the idea that everything must line up “just right,” superstitions; excessive attention to something considered lucky or unlucky, excessive double-checking of things, such as locks, appliances, and switches, repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they’re safe, counting, tapping, repeating certain words, spending a lot of time washing or cleaning, ordering or arranging things “just so,” praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious fear, accumulating “junk” such as old newspapers or empty food containers, and picking at skin. (Symptoms, Behavior, and Tre...
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder that can be best characterized by the recurrent or disturbing thoughts that are labeled as obsessions. Sometime these obsessions can take on the form of intrusive images or the unwanted impulses. The compulsions can come from the repetitive or ritualized behaviors that a person feels driven to perform on a daily basis. The majority of people with the diagnosis of OCD can have both obsessions and compulsions, but most of the times about 20% have obsessions alone while 10% may have the compulsions alone (Goodman M.D., 2013) . Common types that have been illustrated in individual’s diagnoses with OCD can be characterized with concerns of contamination, safety or harm to themselves, unwanted acts of aggression, the unacceptable sexual or religious thoughts, and the need for symmetry or exactness. While some of the most common compulsion can be characterized as excessive cleaning, checking, ordering, and arranging rituals or the counting and repeating routines activities that are done sometimes on a daily basis multiple times in a day.
There are several things that are included in OCD, including its symptoms, treatments and its involvement with the brain. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder recognize their symptoms to be ego-dystonic which are thoughts one would not usually have and not within one’s control but is still a product of one’s mind. The two common symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions take the form of persistent and uncontrollable thoughts, images, impulses, worries, fears or doubts. An anonymous writer wrote about his/her images, “These images included hitting, stabbing, poisoning and shooting people, even the people I loved the most…” However, compulsions are either repetitive physical behaviors or mental thought rituals that are performed over and over again to help relieve a person’s anxiety. Over time compulsions can become more elaborate and time- consuming. Shirley Brinkerhoff mentions in her book Amanda, a high school girl facing OCD, said, “Then I started having to count my steps. Like, 387 steps to the bus stop, and if missed...
OCD is an anxiety disorder that is described as someone with obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behavior. People with OCD are caught up in repetitive behavior and thoughts that they cannot stop. Obsession is defined as unwanted, recurrent, and disturbing thoughts that a person cannot stop. These thoughts are unable to be suppressed and can result in severe anxiety. Compulsions are the result of the obsession. These are repetitive, ritualized behaviors that are done to alleviate the anxiety caused by the obsession. (2) The most common obsessions are fear of contamination, fear of causing harm to another, fear of making a mistake, fear of behaving in a socially unacceptable manner, need for symmetry or exactness, and excessive doubt. The most common compulsions are cleaning/washing, checking, arranging/organizing, collecting/hoarding, and counting/repeating. (3) Some people with OCD have rituals that help relieve the anxiety; however, that relief is only temporary. (4) Most patients (at least 80%) with OCD have both obs...
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD for short, has affected numerous people; one being Jeff Bell, the author of the book Rewind, Replay, Repeat: A memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. This book has much insight on OCD and touches many interesting facts that some people would never know prior to reading.
A. Obsessions are thoughts, images, or impulses that feel out of the person’s control and
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disease that a lot of people suffer with in society especially young adults. While it is not a disease that is deadly, it does affect the victim in every day aspects of their life and can ultimately control their lives. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health as, “… a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over”. The thoughts that individuals have when suffering through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder cannot be restrained and really can disturb the individual. Thoughts or actions that people may have can range from worrying about daily occurrences, such as washing their hands, to having thoughts of harming people that are close to them. People tend to have these reoccurring compulsions because they believe by doing them or thinking them, they will either prevent something bad from happening or because it eliminates stress that they have. This disease can last a lifetime and can be very detrimental and disabling to how one lives their lives. Individuals can start to see signs of OCD in either late adolescence or even early adulthood and everyone is susceptible. When it comes to classifying this incurable disease, there is much debate on whether or not it a type of anxiety (Abramowitz, Taylor, & McKay, 2009). It is important to be able to understand this mental disorder since so many people are diagnosed with it. While there are treatments for OCD, there are no cures yet. Treatments could range anywhere from taking prescribed medication to just going to therapy and counseling fo...
OCD has symptoms such as compulsive hoarding, extreme anxiety, depression, and food aversions. It currently has no sure cause but it has said to be a product of genetics or abnormalities in the brain and serotonin levels as controlling serotonin tends to help in treatment of OCD. Obsessive Compulsive disorder is seen in 2.3% of Americans. It’s more prominent in adults than in children.
There are many symptoms that lead to the conclusion that someone is suffering from OCD. A person may have a fear of germs, wanting things to be in perfect order constantly, and unwanted thoughts. The compulsions in OCD are the acts that a person feels obliged to do and this may include repeatedly washing hands, excessively cleaning and washing hands and counting regularly. Life with OCD is generally hard and the sufferer generally does not get any relief or satisfaction until they are able to perform their rituals (National Institute of Mental health,