Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) suffer intensely from recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions), and uncontrollable urges to perform rituals (compulsions).
The intrusive thoughts often involve themes of harm and trigger anxiety and other distressful emotions.
Common obsessions include: fear of contamination and contagion; fretting about being careless or irresponsible; worry about committing violent, sexual, or sacrilegious acts; and intense discomfort about things not being in their proper place or order.
Compulsions are strong urges to perform physical actions, or to think specific thoughts, in an attempt to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions. Compulsions are ritualistic in the sense that they must be done in a certain way according to certain rules. These rituals actually do reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession, but the relief is often partial and is always short-lived. As a result, the sufferer must repeat them frequently, and soon they become a problem in their own right.
Common compulsions include: excessive washing and cleaning; excessive checking for safety; mental activities such as counting, praying, and replacing bad thoughts and images with good ones; and ordering or arranging objects.
Nearly all sufferers know what they’re doing is unreasonable, but the harder they try to resist the urge to ritualize, the greater the anxiety becomes, and so they give in.
If you have OCD you may be filled with doubt that you left the stove on and feel the need to go back and check repeatedly so you won’t be responsible for starting a fire. You might be preoccupied by thoughts that you will stab your child and so you don’t allow knives in the house. You may spend long periods of time straightening objects fearing that if you don’t, you’ll be in a terrible accident that day.
You engage in rituals in order to prevent something "bad" from happening but there is no pleasure in carrying them out—only temporary relief from the discomfort caused by the obsession.
OCD strikes men and women equally and afflicts roughly one in forty people. One-third of sufferers experienced their first symptoms in childhood. For most, the disorder began during their teens or early adulthood.
Other disorders that may fall within the obsessive-compulsive disorder spectrum include trichotillomania (compulsive hair-pulling or skin-picking), and body dysmorphic disorder (preoccupation with one's appearance). Not infrequently, OCD is accompanied by depression.
OCD is now understood to have a neurobiological basis. It is no longer attributed to family problems or to attitudes learned in childhood. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “cognitive behavior therapy is especially useful for treating OCD.” Similarly, the International OCD Foundation asserts that “this is the type of treatment that has been shown to be the most effective.”
The intrusive thoughts often involve themes of harm and trigger anxiety and other distressful emotions.
Common obsessions include: fear of contamination and contagion; fretting about being careless or irresponsible; worry about committing violent, sexual, or sacrilegious acts; and intense discomfort about things not being in their proper place or order.
Compulsions are strong urges to perform physical actions, or to think specific thoughts, in an attempt to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions. Compulsions are ritualistic in the sense that they must be done in a certain way according to certain rules. These rituals actually do reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession, but the relief is often partial and is always short-lived. As a result, the sufferer must repeat them frequently, and soon they become a problem in their own right.
Common compulsions include: excessive washing and cleaning; excessive checking for safety; mental activities such as counting, praying, and replacing bad thoughts and images with good ones; and ordering or arranging objects.
Nearly all sufferers know what they’re doing is unreasonable, but the harder they try to resist the urge to ritualize, the greater the anxiety becomes, and so they give in.
If you have OCD you may be filled with doubt that you left the stove on and feel the need to go back and check repeatedly so you won’t be responsible for starting a fire. You might be preoccupied by thoughts that you will stab your child and so you don’t allow knives in the house. You may spend long periods of time straightening objects fearing that if you don’t, you’ll be in a terrible accident that day.
You engage in rituals in order to prevent something "bad" from happening but there is no pleasure in carrying them out—only temporary relief from the discomfort caused by the obsession.
OCD strikes men and women equally and afflicts roughly one in forty people. One-third of sufferers experienced their first symptoms in childhood. For most, the disorder began during their teens or early adulthood.
Other disorders that may fall within the obsessive-compulsive disorder spectrum include trichotillomania (compulsive hair-pulling or skin-picking), and body dysmorphic disorder (preoccupation with one's appearance). Not infrequently, OCD is accompanied by depression.
OCD is now understood to have a neurobiological basis. It is no longer attributed to family problems or to attitudes learned in childhood. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “cognitive behavior therapy is especially useful for treating OCD.” Similarly, the International OCD Foundation asserts that “this is the type of treatment that has been shown to be the most effective.”
