Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder or a medical brain disorder that forces a person into a series of repetitive thoughts and actions (Gard 18). This disorder is broken into two parts: obsessions and compulsions. An obsession is persistent thoughts and/or feelings. The anxiety produced by these thoughts leads to an urgent need to perform certain rituals or routines. These routines are also known as compulsions. The compulsive rituals are performed in an attempt to prevent the obsessive thoughts or make them go away. Although the ritual may take the anxiety away temporarily, a person must perform the ritual again when the obsessive thoughts return (Cleveland Clinic). This OCD cycle may continue to the point where it significantly alters one’s life and stops them from interfering with normal everyday activities. People with OCD may be aware that their obsessions and compulsions are senseless or unrealistic, but they cannot stop themselves.

Some common obsessions include contamination in fear of germs, imagining harming self or others, losing control of aggressive urges, intrusive sexual thoughts, excessive religious doubts, forbidden thoughts, and a need to tell, ask, or confess. Obsessions usually increase anxiety while compulsions reduce anxiety. Various common compulsions include repeatedly bathing and showering, the need to perform tasks a certain number of times, constant counting, mentally or aloud, while performing routine tasks, and repeating specific words, phrases or prayers. In an excerpt from the story The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing, A man describes one of his OCD attacks:

My seat belt is buckled and I am vigilantly following all the rules of the road. No one is on the highway - not a living soul. Out of nowhere an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) attack strikes. It’s almost magical how it distorts my sense of reality. While in reality no one is on the road, I’m intruded with the heinous thought that I might have hit someone вЂ" a human being...I think about this for a second and then say to myself “That’s ridiculous. I didn’t hit anybody.” Nonetheless, a gnawing anxiety is born. An anxiety I will not be able to put away until an enormous emotional price is paid…I’ve driven five miles down the road since the attack’s onset. I turn the car around and head back to the scene of the mythical mishap. Naturally nothing is there. No police car, no bloodied body. I turn around again to get to my exam on time. Seconds later, I feel the lingering thoughts and pain start gnawing away again. This time they’re more intense. I think, “Maybe I should have pulled off the road and checked the side brush where the injured body now lies?” I turn around again and turn an extra mile further down the road to look for the corpse. I imagine that a cop car is parked near the alleged scene. I start to panic thinking that the cop knows that I have hit someone. He approaches me and asks me what is wrong. I reply “I am feeling sick about my school exam and had to pull over.” He gives a smile and wishes me luck. Then it runs through my mind, what if he stopped because he thinks I could be a suspect, and what if they already collected the body for fingerprints, etc…This anxiety went on and on, I had to get back in my car. Assured this time that nothing is there, I head back to school to take my exam. (Rapoport 24)

These attacks that occur are not only time consuming, but painful as well. The same man

from the excerpt above stated “it’s simply a fact of life that it’s the pain-the deep, searing,

never-ending pain that makes this illness so unbearable.” These OCD attacks cause more hurt to the person psychologically than most people realize.

Although no single hard evidence has proved the cause of this anxiety disorder, studies show that a combination of biological and environmental factors may be involved. Research has found a link between low levels of one neurotransmitter in the brain called serotonin and the development of OCD. Furthermore, there is evidence that a serotonin imbalance may be passed on from parents to children. This means the tendency to develop OCD may be inherited. Also a related idea to serotonin is another brain neurotransmitter, called dopamine, which has insufficient levels as well (NAFoundation). There are environmental stressors that can possibly trigger OCD in people with a tendency toward developing the condition. Those factors include: abuse, illness, relationship concerns, and death of a loved one. (Cleveland Clinic).

Many questions run through people’s minds about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, for instance, is it contagious like a sickness, can anyone be affected by it, and how many people are affected by it? Sadly, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder disturbs more than four million people in the United States alone. This breaks down to 2.3% of adults who are victims and 1% are children. About 1/3 of the adult patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder say their symptoms started in their early childhood. Although it has not been proven to be genetically inherited, about 15% of children who are diagnosed also have a relative that is diagnosed as well (Manning). In adults this disorder is equally common in both males and females. However children who are afflicted with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the disorder tends to be more common in boys than in girls. Even though men have an earlier age from birth to acquire Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, no one event triggers the disorder. This is different from women who report at least one life event or severe event prior to being diagnosed (APA 456). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can occur in people of all ages, affecting the different ages with the same amount of obsessions or compulsions. For example, the amount of anxiety felt by a patient can differ from person to person, but is the same between a patient’s 10th birthday and their 30th birthday.

There are some superstitious behaviors that people have daily and are confusing their behaviors with OCD. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder goes far beyond knocking on wood or not opening an umbrella inside a house. There are also very serious disorders, not related, that people confuse Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with. Some disorders include: Trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling), Body Dysmorphic Disorder (imagined ugliness), and Habit Disorders (nail biting and skin pinching) (OCFoundation).

Behaviors