Introduction
Obsessive compulsive disorder is influenced by neurological factors with symptoms such as repeating steps, continuously washing their hands, and having a fear of objects like germs. Although there is no cure, there are treatments such as medication and therapy that can help lessen the patient’s anxiety and discomfort.
What is obsessive compulsive disorder?
Obsessive compulsive disorder also known as OCD, is an anxiety disorder. People who have this disorder have repetitive thoughts and behaviors that they cannot control. A chemical imbalance of the neurotransmitter serotonin throws off communication in the brain. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (2015), it can also cause impulses that manifest through obsessions, ideas, and images. The next part of this disorder is compulsions. These are the behaviors that people who have this disorder perform in order to get rid of the uncontrollable thoughts and feelings. How common is OCD?
A study done by the American Academy of Family Physicians states that around three million Americans between the ages of 18-54 have this disorder. This disorder can impact both men and women equally.
Causes
According to an article done by Lifescript (2016), there are many different factors that can cause obsessive compulsive disorder. The causes can be from chemicals in your brain, your surrounding environment, and psychological factors. Neurological factors can cause OCD such as, Tourette’s which are motor and
Obsessive compulsive disorder, or ODC when shortened, is an anxiety disorder in which the sufferer has many unwanted obsessions often with many repetitive compulsions. The National Institute of Mental Health says “People with OCD may be plagued by persistent, unwelcome thoughts or images, or by the urgent need to engage in certain rituals.” People suffering from this disorder are frequently washing their hands and keeping things in order. While the exact cause of this disorder is still unknown to scientists. This disorder is believed to have its roots in psychological problems often developed during childhood. Obsessive compulsive disorder is a problem that can be found almost all places around the globe and can be found in almost
Obsessive compulsive disorder, also know as ODC, is a complex mental illness that involves repeating thoughts know as obsessions and repeating actions know as compulsions (Parks 8). OCD affects males and females of all types (Parks 8). According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately one-third of OCD cases in adults begin in the childhood stages (Chong and Hovanec 11). Scientists believe that OCD is related to a faulty brain circuitry that could possibly be hereditary (Parks 9). Theories based on more recent studies show that OCD is a biological brain defect (Sebastian 32). It affects the frontal lobes of the brain (Ken and Jacob 1). Many OCD symptoms have been recorded since the 15th century (Sebastian 21). By the 19th century, science had developed more and explained that OCD was a mental and emotional disorder instead of supernatural forces (Sebastian 29). OCD is two times more common of a disease than schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Ken and Jacob 1). There are three forms of OCD. The three forms are episodic, continuous, and deteriorative. Episodic OCD has recurring episodes of illness lasting for a limited time.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD is a medical disorder that causes unwanted thoughts and impulses that are hard to control. A person that has OCD is often aware that the obsession and compulsion that they are experiencing are irrational but they cannot control it. A person’s experiencing OCD has rituals that consume significant amount of time that can interfere with their daily lives and can cause a great deal of distress.
Evidence based research has shown that cognitive-behavioral therapy is the preferred method of psychotherapy. Historically behavioral therapy was first used for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder. Behavioral therapy concentrated on the exposure to fearful stimuli. Cognitive therapy was then used and focused on responsibilities, over importance of thought, controlling thoughts, and estimation of threats. Both these approaches were found to be very effective and they combined them creating cognitive-behavioral therapy (Stein, 2002). This therapy involves response prevention and exposure to stimuli. Response prevention is when the individual has OCD stays away from compulsive thoughts and practices. An examples of this include the compulsive behavior of washing your hands 7 times before leaving the bathroom; and decreasing the amount of handwashes gradually until the desired results are achieved. Exposure refers to the systematic stimulation that is repetitive and that can last for a long period of time. An example of this is the exposure to dirt and germs for an individual who gets extreme anxiety from the possibility of coming into contact with these substances (Abramowitz, et. al, 2009). This treatment can be done in a group setting, family setting or as an individual (Stein, 2002). Psychotherapy is also very useful for educating those with obsessive compulsive disorder to think differently, how to behave, and proper reaction to anxiety provoking situations that cause the need to act out the obsession with the compulsive
Obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder described by irrational thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive tasks (compulsions) (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, 2013). When a person has obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may realize that their obsessions aren't accurate, and they may try to overlook them but that only increases their suffering and worry. Eventually, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to ease your stressful feelings. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is often driven by a reason, cause, or fear for example, a fear of germs. To calm the feeling of this fear, a person may compulsively wash their hands until they're sore and chapped. Despite their efforts, thoughts of obsessive-compulsive behavior keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior and a brutal cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes (Who We Are, 2012). In the United States, one in 50 adults suffers from OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects children, adolescents, and adults. About one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, they felt these anxieties but were not diagnosed or felt no need to be diagnosed until the compulsions over whelmed them (Who We Are, 2012). The phrase obsessive compulsive has been used to describe excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated person. While
Many patients believe that they somehow caused themselves to have these compulsive behaviors and obsessive thoughts. According to Neziraglu (1999), this is completely untrue; OCD is likely caused by a number of intertwined and complex factors which include genetics, biology, personality development, and how a person learns to react to
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is abbreviated with OCD; it is an anxiety disorder that affects many people all over the world. OCD is a type of anxiety disorder that affects the brain and the behavior of a person. Someone who has OCD can experience frequent, upsetting thoughts called obsessions. Trying to control the thoughts, you can feel very overwhelmed resulting in an urge to repeat certain rituals or behaviors, these are called compulsions. Researchers think brain circuits may not work properly in people who have OCD. It tends to run in families. The symptoms often begin in children or teens. Examples of obsessions are a fear of germs or a fear of being hurt. Compulsions include washing your hands, counting, checking on things, or cleaning.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive, ritualized behaviors you feel compelled to perform ("Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Symptoms - Mayo Clinic", 2016). Obsessions are uncontrollable thoughts or urges that occur repeatedly in a person’s mind and cause stress and anxiety. Compulsions are behaviors a person feels driven to perform over and over again usually to try and make the obsessions go away and reduce anxiety. Obsessions and compulsions often feed off of one another, however it is possible to have just obsessive symptoms or just compulsive symptoms. In order to be diagnosed with OCD, the obsessions and/or compulsions must affect daily life and
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a treatable disorder. It is a type of anxiety disorder which occurs throughout one’s life. A person with OCD can’t control their obsessions and compulsions. They get recurring thoughts which are stressful and not important but extremely hard to stop thinking about.
OCD has many apparent factors. The first component of OCD is that it is an obsession. According to an article titled “Complementary medicines that may assist in managing obsessive compulsive disorder” from Gale Student Resources in Context, sufferers of this disorder have recurring thoughts that interrupt their daily routines. These are brought on by triggers. Everyone with this disorder has a different set of triggers although there are some triggers that overlap. A lot of people with OCD share many common obsessions, such as believing they are contaminated, fearing something bad will happen, or feeling unsure if they have done something outrageous (Journal). Once triggered, a tremendous amount of anxiety is experienced. At this point, the sufferer must do something to rid themselves of this feeling. Now the sufferer feels obliged to partake in compulsive behaviors. Compulsions are the
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder(OCD), according to the American Psychiatric Association, is defined as "an anxiety disorder in which time-consuming obsessions and compulsions significantly interfere with a person’s routine, making it difficult to work or to have a normal social life." (Timothy J. Bruce, Arthur E. Jongsma, Jr. pVIII)This, in layman 's terms, is simply unwanted thoughts, and actions that cause anxiety, impairment, or distress on the job, in relationships and in society. The most common types of OCD (Ian Osborn 1998) are categorized by: Checking, which refers to an intrusive thought that if one does not check, for example, stove knobs, or if the lights are off, that something bad may occur. This leads one to the compulsion to check such things, and in doing so relieves the anxiety one may have about the irrational fear, and "prevents something bad from happening". Next is contamination, which is the fear that illness or contamination will eventually lead to severe illness or death of oneself or loved one. In order to relax such fears, people with Contamination OCD reputedly clean, and wash in order to prevent illness or death. There is also the fear of harming oneself or others. This is the idea that one suffering from this subtype of OCD have a pathological fear that they possess the ability to harm oneself or a loved one, and in order to prevent such a thing, one would act out certain rituals or compulsions. Religious obsessions, this is the overabundance of
I suffer from (OCD) Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder.It is a disorder in which a person's life is dominated by repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions). If I have a issue, I obsess over it, until I find a best possible solution or have to finish one thing before I start the next. It is hard to live with my boyfriend with his convolute dissary messiness. I end up becoming the "cleaning fairy" and clean, put things away, where I know where they are , but not him. I have to have it clean, orderly and have a space that is clear for my preferences. This is a very accurate description of me and my OCD.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can be distressing and can cause dysfunction in people’s everyday lives. People all around the world suffer from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder no matter their gender, race, or culture. Children, teens, and adults could potentially gain OCD depending on the stressful situations that occur in their lives. People who suffer from this disorder often have uncontrollable thoughts of worry and anxiety that lead to actions and behaviors that become repetitive habits. The actions normally occur when people think that the worst possible things might happen to them. So in order to attempt to suppress the fearful thoughts people may perform different habits over and over again throughout each day in order to gain a
Obsessive compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, is an anxiety disorder which involves obsessions, compulsions, and can also consume a person’s everyday life (Steketee 1). Compulsions are obsessions performed into ritualistic behaviors (Parks 11). They can lead a person to have very vicious cycles in which they are powerless to stop. Obsessions most of the time revolves around fears of germs in which they avoid using public toilets and touching items. This can get so extreme to where they will wash their hands so many times their skin will be raw, and they will shower so much their bodies will start bleeding or chapping (12). There are many symptoms of having OCD. For example, sufferers can avoid situations that involve obsessions, overestimating harm, and worrying excessively. Sufferers of OCD can have multiple fears such as hurting loved ones, using sharp objects near people, not counting high enough which would cause a natural disaster, and throwing items away (12).
Experts agree that Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an extremely disabling illness. People living with OCD live very frustrated and hindered lives. They feel trapped in an endless cycle of recurring thoughts and behaviors. Many of these distressing thoughts are rooted in fear. These fears lead the person to perform certain routines and/or rituals throughout their day. These rituals and compulsions are performed in an attempt to stop the obsessive thoughts in hopes to make them go away.