Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Mental health should be taken more seriously in today’s society. The physical aspect of person life is important however it is not the only thing that should be valued. A particular disorder such Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) where intrusive thoughts dominate a person’s mind can be a real problem. OCD is mental disorder where people have unwanted and constant thoughts, ideas, obsessions, and behaviors that makes them perform certain acts countless of times. In the hopes to subside these obsessive thoughts compulsions or rituals are used, which are common responses to the anxiety and unwanted thoughts.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay A study done by K. Bey and L. Lennertz in which they try to find the cause of OCD in a person’s life examine certain factors. They did a study comprised of 169 patients with OCD, 57 unaffected first-degree relatives to patients with OCD, and 157 healthy control group of subjects. Concluding that harm avoidance and childhood adversity plays an important role in the development of OCD. Some treatment option can be prescribed medicine or in some serious cases psychiatric neurosurgery. The alternative is exposure response therapy where the client faces the anxious obsessive thoughts head on and overtime lessen the power of those thoughts.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
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Obsessive Habits
The overall health of an individual can sometimes be misconstrued by many by thinking it is how a person is doing physical. More often than not, the mental aspect of a person’s life would be undermine and not taken as seriously. Mental health should be as concerning of a topic as physical health. One type of mental impairment that may be overlooked or not as well known is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
DSM-V Diagnostic Criteria
According to the American Psychological Associations (2013), the diagnostic criteria for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is characterized by two factors: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are distressing and continuous ideas, thoughts, images, or impulses that an individual is unable to control (APA, 2013). Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that an individual carries out to prevent the anxiety or distress that is related to an obsession or a dreaded event or situation. However, these repetitive behaviors and mental acts do not actually prevent anxiety or distress, even when the individual makes active attempts to resist their obsessive thoughts and behaviors (APA, 2013). The continual nature of obsessions and compulsions mean they occupy an individual’s actions and thoughts more than 1 hour per day, which results in the individual’s inability to perform a normal routine, including social, occupational areas of functioning (APA, 2013).Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is not caused by outside forces or influences such as drugs, medications, or a general medical condition, rather the symptoms of the disorder originate from the individual (APA, 2013). Obsessive-compulsive disorder should not be characterized by the symptoms of other related mental disorders that also involve obsessions and repetitive behaviors or thoughts. Most of these related disorders deal with body-focused repetitive behaviors such as body dysmorphic disorder, where an individual finds faults in their appearance, trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder), excoriation (skin-picking) disorder, and eating disorders, where an individual has unusual eating habits. The disorder can be specified in three different ways among individuals. The first is with good or fair insight when the individual realizes that their obsessive-compulsive beliefs are untrue, or they are uncertain if they are true. The second is with poor insight where the individual realizes that their beliefs are probably true. The third is with absent insight or delusional beliefs where the individual thinks that their obsessive-compulsive disorder beliefs are true (APA, 2013). A tic-related behavior or disorder can also be specified when describing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Research on the Etiology of the Disorder
Being diagnosis with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be attributed to certain areas of a person’s life, as early as childhood. One particular study tries to understand the root cause of why OCD is present in one’s life. This particular study titled “Harm Avoidance and Childhood Adversities in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and their Unaffected First-Degree Relatives” by K. Bey and L. Lennertz in which they assume that there must be a connection between genetic factors and environmental factors. More specifically they looked at the personality trait of harm avoidance and the adversities in childhood. Harm avoidance is described as a personality trait in which an individual has excessive worrying, shyness, fatigability, and fear of uncertainty (Bey et al, 2017). The purpose of the overall study was observed how harm avoidance and childhood adversities contribute to the development of OCD.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
The type of study this research was conducted was experimental. The study consisted of 169 participants with OCD, 157 healthy comparison subjects, and 57 unaltered first-degree relatives of patients with OCD. 37 parents and 18 siblings participated in the experimental. The patients and control group were matched for age and gender (Bey et al, 2017). The harm avoidance was assessed by the Temperament and Character Inventory, in which 35 binary items on the test would come up with an overall score of severity of harm avoidance. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was used to evaluate the level of childhood trauma. The types of trauma may consist of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. The results of the study supported the theory that harm avoidance and childhood adversities play an important role in the development of OCD. Patients with OCD and their unaffected relatives in the experiments had high levels of harm avoidance when compared to the healthy controlled participants. In terms of childhood adversities, the OCD patients reported more trauma in childhood than unaffected relatives and the healthy control subjects (Bey et al, 2017).Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Treatment
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can be assessed and treated in different ways. Typically, those who have OCD find it hard thing to overcome, it is a process at chipping away and working on areas that are trigger points. According to Abnormal psychology: Clinical perspectives on psychological disorders by Susan Krauss Whitbourne and Richard Halgin, OCD can be treated through medication like clomipramine or other serotonin inhibiting medication. Inhibiting medication such as Zoloft or Prozac (Whitbourne et al, 2013). In extremely serious cases of OCD psychiatric neurosurgery may be an option to provide deep brain stimulation in the areas of the brain that control motor control, which may relieve symptoms by reducing activity of prefrontal cortex, which would hopefully reduce the obsessive thoughts. The substitute to medication or invasive surgery would be psychological interventions. For instances if a client is having rapid obsessive thoughts, the clinician may expose the client in those very situations that provoke compulsive rituals (Whitbourne et al, 2013). When confronted by intrusive thoughts the clinician directs the client to stop performing compulsive behaviors so that over time the obsessive thoughts lose their meaning.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Conclusion
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a condition that many people unfortunately experience across the world, it is a tough diagnosis to overcome. Every day you are under constant self-doubt and fear to do sometimes the simplest of tasks. I myself have felt anxious many times in my life and when learning about this disorder, I found some parallels and similarities in how I think. At times I have intrusive thoughts that gets me anxious and paranoid of what may or may not happen. By learning about disorder, I gained a better understanding and felt a level of compassion when I thought about how people can live with such doubt in their minds. I can only imagine people feeling like they are a prisoner in their own mind. I believe there should be more awareness for OCD in the public eye, people should be informed. Making sure your mental health is just as stable as your physical health can benefit the overall quality of life.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Begin your paper with the introduction. The active voice, rather than passive voice, should be used in your writing. First discovered in the 19th Century, the neurosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a complex disorder consisting of obsessive thoughts often accompanied by compulsive behaviors that sufferers repeat in order to alleviate the anxiety caused by these thoughts.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Discovery
Prior to being seen as a legitimate mental health issue, OCD was originally thought to be a consequence of unholy behavior. Although the discovery of the disorder cannot be narrowed down beyond its major contributors, Sigmund Freud made major progress toward the understanding of the illness in the beginning of the 20th century.Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
Everyone has experienced emotions such as anxiety, fear, and worry; they are a part of everyday life. These reactions are normal and healthy; they typically don’t come too often, and when they do, they don’t last very long. However, the United States Health and Human Services Department (1998) estimates there is about 3.2 million Americans that suffer from a psychological anxiety disorder called obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Those who suffer from this condition have frequent upsetting and unreasonable thoughts, worries, or fears. The Harvard Mental Health Letter (1998) notes that:
“The most common obsessional theme is cleanliness (dirt and germs), followed by aggression and sex, safety, and order or symmetry. Obsessions may take…show more content…
417) The obsessive thoughts and compulsive rituals performed by those with the disorder can often be alienating. They may find it difficult to maintain romantic relationships and friendships. Another alienating factor to this condition is the fact that many people don’t know or understand what OCD is or what it looks like; if they witness an OCD sufferer performing rituals, they may think he or she is just crazy. They don’t realize that a sufferer from this disorder literally does not have control of their thoughts and can not just simply make the decision to stop their compulsions. OCD can also be time-consuming, and will interfere with daily life, as sufferers can sometimes spend many hours completing their rituals. A Real Illness: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (2008) quotes the story of a person with OCD:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
“’I couldn’t touch any doors or countertops in public areas. I knew it didn’t make any sense, but I was terrified of getting germs that could kill me. I almost couldn’t go out in public, I was so afraid. If I thought I had touched anything, I would have to wash myself for hours. Sometimes I washed so much that my skin would get red and raw and bleed’”.
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 feeling of security. By engaging in certain actions such as pressing the lock button in their car multiple times or washing their hands repeatedly, people try to push away their anxious thoughts instead of facing their fears.
According to Wortmann (2012), “the urge to get rid of something terrifying is exactly what inspires the ritualistic behaviors” (p. 1). In other words, people carry out certain actions to try to reduce their obsessive thoughts when in reality, the habitual compulsions increase anxiety. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder cannot necessarily be stopped or fought by getting rid of the things that cause people anxiety, but it can be managed by directly confronting the thing that is feared. For example, it is impossible to get rid of all diseases so that someone may overcome their fear of becoming sick. However, that person may wash their hands constantly and not touch people to reassure themselves that they are doing anything they can to prevent themselves from getting sick. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Essay
