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Obsessive Personality Disorder (OCD)

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Personality Disorders affect roughly 15% of all Americans. 16 million. 16 million people are affected by some category of personality disorders. There are three clusters in which these can be defined: Cluster A, Cluster B, and Cluster C. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, more commonly known as OCD, affects 1 in 50 people at some point in their lives and generally falls in the Cluster C. Now, we will explore personality disorders, OCD, and the treatments available for OCD. To understand what Personality Disorders are, one has to understand what is personality. The dictionary definition is “the combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character.” This means that each person has their own distinctive qualities that will make them, them. It also refers to one’s thinking, feeling, and behavior. The majority of these …show more content…

A very simple definition of this disorder is “unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that trigger intensely distressing feelings” (Clark, Radomsky). There are many factors rather than just one instance that has to occur for a person to be able to be diagnosed with OCD. It has to repeatedly occur and has to be extreme that it interferes with a person’s daily life. An obsession is where one has a thought, image, or impulse which keeps occurring. The compulsion is the action in which one person does to relieve the obsession. A person will lose control of their mind if they are cannot perform their compulsive act. The Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorder explains that “OCD is caused by damage to a specific part of the brain called the basal ganglia” (Gorbis). This means not only is there a mental aspect but also a biological aspect of this disorder. Once these researchers found where the primary area for OCD is located, they researched further to define more clearly where it is

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