Obsessive-compulsive disorder is defined by select characteristics (compulsions) and thoughts (obsessions). Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually consists of irrational obsessions, fears, and compulsions. (Mayo, 1) Though obsessions and compulsions are common, it is not necessary to have both when defining Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some individuals with OCD only have obsessions or compulsions. (Mayo,1) It takes a professions therapist to diagnose Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Therapists will look for three things in an individual to determine if they have Obsessive-compulsive disorder. The first thing therapist looks for in a person is whether or not the person has obsessions. Next, a therapist will determine whether or not the person has compulsive behaviors. Lastly, the therapist must determine if the obsessions and/or compulsions take a lot of time and conflict with activities in the person’s life. (Ocfoundation, 1) Obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to stem around certain categories. Fears, such as germs, are often a major category attacked by OCD. (Mayo, 1) These fears turn into obsessions, which can cause detrimental conflict in one’s life. Obsessions are thoughts, images, or impulses that keep reoccurring and lack control by the person obtaining them. (Ocfoundation, 2) Generally, these obsessions are unwanted by the person and are generally disturbing and confusing. Feelings of discomfort typically follow such thoughts as well as the wanting to correct the feeling of discomfort. (Ocfoundation, 3) Some of the most common obsessions today are body contamination, losing control, perfectionism, harm, or unwanted sexual thoughts. (Ocfoundation,4) In order to correct unwanted thoughts or obsessions, a person generally ... ... middle of paper ... ...t to find a therapist who knows how to do Exposure and Response Prevention therapy. A therapist should be open and friendly towards a patient’s decision about finding help. A patient’s relationship with their therapist is important because they will be disclosing a lot of information to their therapist, some of which may be embarrassing or uncomfortable. (Ocfoundation, 9) Obsessive-compulsive disorder may not seem like much to some but to others it can make or break their life. It is a disease that can be diagnosed and treatment plans are available. It is important to understand the meaning of Obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as making it a point to find a professional therapist who is able to handle the diagnosis and treatment of Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder does not have to be a lifestyle; a person can choose to win the battle.
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) - is characterized by persistent, uncontrollable and unwanted feelings or thoughts (obsessions) and routines or rituals (compulsions) in which individuals engage to try to prevent or rid themselves of these thoughts. In example of common compulsions include washing hands or cleaning repeatedly for fear of germs.
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.
The DSM-IV definition of obsessive-compulsive disorder states: "an anxiety disorder, where it is defined as obsessions and/or compulsions that cause marked distress, are time-consuming, or interfere with functioning. Obsessions are defined as recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses or images that are experienced as invasiive and ego-dystonic and that cause anxiety or distress. Compulsions are defined as ritualistic behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be rigidly applied. The behavior or mental act is aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation and is recognized as excessive or unreasonable" (1).
N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD." NIMH RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is believed to be linked to other disorders and disabilities. The symptoms cause a lot of stress and anxiety and it could lead to depression. OCD can develop over time or be something one is born with. Many people suffer from this disorder but there are different ways to treat the symptoms such as cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. OCD is a very common yet serious disorder that does not seem significant to those who do not have it but it is not something that should ever be ignored.
What is hypochondriasis? “Hypochondriasis is the excessive worry that you are or may become seriously ill, says Mayo Clinic.” Hypochondriasis is known to be an illness anxiety disorder. Hypochondriasis, when diagnosed to a person, is known as being a hypochondriac. Mayo Clinic also says that “It is not just worrying every so often that something might be wrong with a person, but it’s that the person is constantly worrying about themselves.” It will cause them to think the worst about them being ill and monitor their own body and expect something is wrong with themselves all of the time. (Carolyn Steber) Here are some symptoms, causes and treatments for hypochondriasis.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder has many common symptoms and experiences that along with it, but it is not completely cut-and-dry for every individual. The authors of these essays have gone through many hard times and want others to be informed about their disorder. Through their personal stories, I hope we have all learned a little more about what life with OCD is all about.
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.
Obsessions are the unpleasant thoughts or impulses that cause the person with the disorder to have lots of anxiety and edginess. The thoughts may include things such as perfect order of things in a house, perfect hygiene, or the fear that they are going to hurt someone. Obsessions can be violent or sexual.
OCD can be a difficult thing to live with and a struggle for some. If you are someone who has OCD and don’t get treatment you should because it may save your life or just simply help you to be a happier person if this disease gets you down. With all that being said I encourage anyone who has it not to let this get you down and please get treatment.
I. OCD is both a brain and behavior disorder that causes obsessions and compulsions that hinder the everyday life of those affected. It also causes severe anxiety.
OCD is an anxiety disorder that describes someone with either obsessive thoughts or compulsive behavior or with both (Thomsen 1). Anybody with this psychological disorder have thoughts and a repetitive behavior going on in their head that they cannot stop; all these thoughts can result to a highly anxiety disorder. Obsessions can result to the compulsions that are also repetitive behaviors (“Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Part II” 2). There are different kinds of obsessions one person has, but the most common are fear of contamination, fear of behaving in a socially unacceptable manner, need for exactness, and fear of making a mistake. The most common compulsions are cleaning, constantly checking things; such as making sure the door is locked, ordering, and avoidance (“Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Part II” 2). Less than 20% of people have obsessions or compulsions and at least 80 % of people with OCD have both obsessions and compulsions (Bakalar 3).
Obsessive-compulsive disorder has been classified as a type of anxiety disorder under DSM-5, in which there is a presence of obsessions, compulsions or both. Obsessions are defined as “intrusive and mostly nonsensical thoughts, images, or urges that the individual tries to resist or eliminate,” while compulsion are the thought or actions that accompany these obsessions to try to suppress and provide relief. (TEXTBOOK) The obsessions are categorized into four major types, and each is linked with a certain pattern of compulsive behaviors.
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...