Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive DisorderObsessive �V Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (henceforth OCD) is an anxiety related disorders and is a potentially disabling condition that can persist throughout a person��s life. The key features of OCD are obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions can be defined as persistent ideas, thoughts impulses or images that are experienced as inappropriate and intrusive. This then causes the person high levels of anxiety and distress. Compulsion on the other hand, Are repetitive behaviors like hand washing, ordering and checking. The reason for doing this is to prevent or to reduce the anxiety or distress felt.
The cause of OCD is no longer solely attributed to the attitudes the patient learnt as a child. The search for cause now focuses on the interaction of neuro-biological factors and environmental influences and cognitive processes.
It has been fond that OCD affects 1 to 2 % of the population in Malaysia and the United States. It cuts across all ethnic groups and effects both males and females. The onset of OCD is earlier in males i.e. between 6 to 15 years of age while the disorder affects females in the age range of 20 to 29.
�� Bob saw his psychiatrist for treatment of depression for six months before he finally had the courage to bring up his other ��secret�� problem. Since childhood he had a compulsion to count things. He had to count the letters in words and in people��s names. If the letters added up to any number except 9, he felt a sense of release and could stop counting. He knew it was silly but nevertheless he had a fear that if he did not do this, something bad could happen to his mom or dad. He seemed unable to stop doing this. He did poorly in school because he was distracted by his secret compulsion to count letters when he should be paying attention to the teacher��s lessons. He was later bothered as a teenager by upsetting sacrilegious mental images when he was in church. Having these sacrilegious images made him feel that he had lost his souls for eternity.
In addition to these two problems, he was having trouble driving. When he felt a bump as his tire rolled over a little stone, he would think that he may have accidentally run over a pedestrian. He would instantly check his rearview mirror for the injured person he feared was lying on the road. Relived to not see an injured person, he would start driving forward. Obsessing that the injured person might have been flung entirely off the road by the impact, he would then stop, and back up his car to the scene, and search the ditch and the weeds. These obsessions and compulsions were taking over his life but he was too embarrassed to tell anyone about them, even his psychiatrist, up till now.�� (Internet 1)
OCD is an anxiety related disorder and is a potentially disabling condition that...
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