OCD

Research Proposal

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:37:00 -0400

CHOSEN TOPIC:

OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Few people are aware of what OCD is, including some of those who suffer from it - and if the world knew more about the disease, the standard of the OCD sufferers’ lives would probably improve.

ISSUE PROBLEM:

How to improve the standard of life of the OCD sufferer?

HYPOTHESIS:

Therapy is the only form of treatment known for OCD.

MAIN PURPOSES:

Verify whether therapy is the only form of treatment for OCD;
Find if there’s a way to improve the quality of life of the OCD sufferer;
Learn more about the disorder;
Motivate people to learn more about OCD.

JUSTIFICATION:

OCD is among the disorder with the biggest number of sufferers in the world (2-3% of the world’s population). Many people are OCD sufferers and don’t realize that, or look for more information/ seek help. The sufferer’s standard of life can improve a lot with the treatment, and people must know that and get informed about the disorder.

METHODOLOGY:

Consult bibliographic sources;
Do interviews.

What’s OCD?

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:33:15 -0400

The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, better known as OCD is a mental state related to anxiety, and characterized by recurrent obsessions and compulsions that make sufferers feel obligated to perform rituals and activities that may seem completely irrational to people around them and sometimes, also to themselves.

But, if they understand that there’s no point in doing something, why would they do it anyway? Despite being conscious that what they’re doing doesn’t make any sense, the OCD sufferers can’t make their obsessive thoughts go away, and they feel uncomfortable, anxious, preoccupied, nervous and deeply depressed if they do not follow a ritual or carry out an activity.

Obsessions are defined as unwanted thoughts, images, impulses, feelings, ideas or sensations that come repeatedly to the OCD sufferer’s mind. They are persistent, sometimes even inappropriate, and can cause severe damage and/or anxiety to the person.

Compulsions are intrusive behaviors or mental acts that the OCD’s sufferer feels obligated to do in order to reduce their anxiety. They can be done mentally (the sufferers count and control their thoughts) or physically; when they engage in the ritual, they feel an enormous relief. OCD sufferers might develop tics and establish rules that must be followed; that is because they strongly believe something bad would happen to them. Compulsions are generated by obsessions.

OCD has been considered one of the top ten causes of disability in the world by the World Health Organization. There are around two to three million people just in the United States that suffer from OCD.

Normally, when OCD sufferers begin to understand that the obsessions are caused by their own minds, and that they aren’t able to resist to this behavior, they feel ashamed of their inability to control themselves, and try to conceal the disorder from relatives and friends, and often deny to themselves that they have a disorder/problem. Besides that, sufferers might also deny their condition; because they are unaware that their attitudes are related to a disease and that there are possibilities of treatment.

Hiding their disorder from people who surround them and realizing that they have a problem which is out of their control can be really painful and disturbing. 70% of adult OCD sufferers have gone through at least one episode of major depression in their lives due to (or related to) OCD.

The complications caused by OCD

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:21:27 -0400

OCD is not itself characterized by being fatal, but its development can cause mental complications which lead to more intense obsessions and compulsions, that might end up in death.

For example, since the disorder makes the sufferers isolate themselves (they can spend up to ten hours per day, in the most severe cases, exerting the compulsions) and feel ashamed of who they are, it causes low self-esteem, often resulting in depression and eventually, in suicide.

There are also some sufferers that have such a severe concern about contamination that they don’t go to the hospital, so when they get a more serious disease, they don’t get the ideal treatment.

How is OCD diagnosed?

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:21:00 -0400

To be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder you will need to participate in a self-test, answering questions individually. If you are in suspect of suffering from the disorder, the doctor will look for symptoms that include obsessions and compulsions. Once these kind of symptoms are confirmed, he will probably ask for some exams that may include physical (they will examine your heart rate, blood pressure and temperature), laboratory tests (they will count your blood and look for signs of alcoholic and use of drugs) and psychological evaluation (you will have a talk with your doctor or your therapist about your feelings and compulsions, how do you deal with the disorder and if you remember any episode of your life that has been affected by the disorder).

Treatment is often more effective with a combination of medications and psychotherapy.

Link for an individual test for OCD: http://www.ocdtypes.com/oci-r-test.php

Causes of OCD

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:16:00 -0400

The precise cause of OCD (etymology) is still unknown, so we don’t know whether we can or cannot prevent it (and if we can prevent it, how we can do it); however, scientists and researchers have been capable of expanding the field of information about the disorder, which is registered in literature since the 19^th century. Science still seeks the cause of the emergence of OCD symptoms in the organism of the sufferers, that are 2-3% of the worldwide population.

But there certainly is evidence showing that there are several factors from biological and psychological order that contribute to the emergence of OCD. The most probable coefficients from biological nature are:

Genetic aspects

It has been observed a bigger incidence of OCD (four to five times more that the normal standard) in individuals whose relative(s) are OCD sufferer(s). Also, OCD in twins is from twenty to forty times more likely to occur than to the rest of the population.
These factors indicate that OCD may come from a genetic background.

Brain chemistry (neurochemistry)

It has been proved that some medications that stimulate the serotonergic function of the brain (they are classified as antidepressants) reduce the OCD’s symptoms:

- Because of that, it is possible to associate OCD to a neurochemical disturb related to the nerve pathways that use serotonin (a natural substance generated by the brain). Serotonin acts at the distribution of nerve impulses. The medications used to treat OCD stop the reuptake of serotonin to the nerve cells, which favors the transmission of nerve impulses between cells.

2. With exams called topographies, it has been observed in OCD sufferers a bigger hyperactivity (a bigger operation) in the frontal lobe of the brain (represented in blue in the first image), in the periorbital region, in deeper cerebral areas (ganglia) and close to circular orbits. This activity can be easily normalized with the appropriate treatments.

Brain areas.

Cerebral injuries or infections

OCD sufferers have often showed symptoms after injuries or infections in the brain, which makes specialists consider the possibility of OCD being related to that.

The most probable features that cause OCD from psychological nature are:

Distorted beliefs

Acquired by the environment, culture, education or other ways of apprenticeship. Distorted beliefs influence both on the emergence and the attenuation of OCD symptoms. One of the psychological treatments of OCD, the cognitive-behavioral therapy, pursuits the correction of these wrong “ideas”. OCD sufferers exaggerate about their responsibility on provoking and stopping accidents. They are also excessively perfectionists and concerned about their thoughts and their control over them.
After some time, these beliefs become rules that must not be broken, in any occasion, and start to guide the sufferers’ life, making them perform a set of actions that may seem unreasonable to other people, but are indispensable for their and other people’s safety.

Psychological impacts and traumas

Not always the emergence of OCD is linked to big events on people’s lives, but, in some cases, the sufferer begins to show symptoms after psychological stress, and if the symptoms already existed, they could get a lot worse.

1. Classical conditioning: With that we can conclude that by unknown reasons, in sensitive or predisposed people, some items and situations can be related to fear, anxiety and frustration.

2. Generalization: Other objects and situations that are somehow similar to the items and situations that were the first ones to cause discomfort and fright also begin to be dreaded by the sufferers.

3. Neutralization: The person starts to suffer these situations that cause significant discomfort and avoidance more often, and with that they realize that by carrying out determined actions it’s possible to reduce or even neutralize fear and anxiety, even if for a short period of time.

4. Fortification and maintenance of the rituals: When sufferers realize that the rituals reduce the bad feelings experienced by them, giving them the impression that they’re doing the right thing. The feeling of accomplishment and temporary calmness perpetuate OCD.

5. Fortification of the wrong beliefs: When sufferers obtain relief by executing compulsions, they reinforce the thought that their fears are real, therefore they can’t stop the compulsions.

These are the reasons why OCD treatment includes both psychological and the pharmacological treatment.

Even though there is a lot more information about the disorder, Science still isn’t able to explain in patient response organism to OCD, and defining that remains on the condition of a mystery.

OCD Treatment

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:07:00 -0400

OCD is a chronicle disease, which means that there is no cure to it. Until recently, there were few ways to treat OCD, and these treatments weren’t very effective. Due to new research in the area, scientists have been able to find ways to treat the disorder, and, thanks to it, 70% of OCD sufferers have been able to reduce their OCD symptoms and have a better quality of life.

The sooner you start the treatment, the better. It’s essential that the sufferers get treated, because if they don’t, their symptoms (obsessions and compulsions) may get considerably worse.

According to the psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz, there are four steps for controlling the symptoms of OCD:

Relabel

The patient has to recognize that the intrusive urges and thoughts that he has are caused by the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
Reattribute

The patient has got to understand that the energy and intrusiveness of his/her thoughts and urges are probably caused by OCD.
Refocus

The sufferer has to try to control his intrusive thoughts by focusing their attention on other things, and doing other behaviors in order to dominate the compulsions.
Revalue

The OCD sufferer can’t take the OCD thoughts at face value; they have to understand that they are generated by their own minds and are insignificant.

OCD treatment is individualized and might diversify a lot depending on the severity and type of case. 60 to 70% of OCD sufferers can obtain considerable relief with the correct treatments. Nowadays, there are two ways to treat it: Pharmacological treatment and behavioral therapy. For the treatment to be more efficient and effective, it is recommended that the patients combine both methods.

Pharmacological treatment

The pharmacological treatment is one of the most powerful treatments for OCD. Medication can help in 30 to 60% of the cases.

Through antidepressants that elevate the levels of serotonin in the brain (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors - SSRIs), the sufferers start having their symptoms reduced after about three months. However, there are some inconveniences with this treatment. The main problems are that, unlike panic and depression treatments, the treatment for OCD is slow and gradual, and it takes a long time for the patients and family to see the results. Between 40 and 60% of the OCD sufferers that undergo this treatment get their symptoms reduced, but the patients don’t get completely better; some of them even continue to present severe symptoms of the disease. Other common issue is that, in 90% of the cases, around four months after the sufferer stops using the appropriate medications, the symptoms come back.

Tranquilizers shouldn’t be used for a long period of time. They are a possibility of treatment for people who have more severe OCD symptoms, because they reduce the compulsion urges, relaxing the body muscles.

For extreme cases, psychosurgery is an option of treatment. Using electrodes, some parts of the brain are severed or disabled. More than a third of patients of OCD who have undergone the surgery improved a lot.

Psychotherapy

The only proven form of psychotherapy for OCD is the cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), the combination of the behavioral and the cognitive therapies. In the cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions, the patients get informed about OCD and get explanations about the disorder that they are suffering and the possible treatments for it. They also make practical exercises with their therapist, and use the exercises at their lives later. In the first sessions, a list of the patient’s obsessions and rituals is organized, and the exposure and response prevention exercises are planned weekly based on the patients’ symptoms and level of the disease, that are determined by the degree of anxiety created by obsessions and the difficulty the person finds in fighting the obsessions. It’s important that the treatment starts with compulsions that are easier to control, and then, when the patient feels ready, the difficult obsessions ate defeated. For the sufferer not to feel tortured, and for the treatment not to be too fast and exaggerated, the exercises are made by the therapist together with the patient. The treatment requires around 1-2 hours per day to work properly. Like the medication treatment, the cognitive-behavioral therapy includes failures: It is very expensive, and there aren’t many therapists specialized in this area.

The support of the family and the friends of the OCD sufferers have a big influence on the development or reduction of the symptoms. In most of the cases, the sufferers feel depressed and ashamed of themselves, and it’s harder to undergo these treatments alone than with someone.

Self-help is crucial in order to conquer the symptoms of OCD. The OCD sufferers can also help themselves in many ways:

Educate yourself

Getting more information about OCD, learning as much as possible about the disorder by talking to therapists, searching on the internet, reading books. The more you know about it, the better it is to treat it.
Practice the skills you’ve learned in therapy

Using the skills learned during the therapy sessions is a challenge, and requires daily practice, and it is very difficult to resist the compulsive urge when you’re on your own.

Stay connected to family and friends

OCD takes up a lot of time of the sufferers’ lives, usually making them isolate themselves. Staying connected to other people can help them a lot, because they motivate, help and support the sufferer.
Join an OCD support group

In a support group, patients realize that they are not alone, there are other people going through the same problem. They can share their experiences with people who actually understand them, and they can learn from them.
Practice relaxation techniques:

Meditation, yoga and other techniques that relief the stress help patients control their anxiety.

Other treatments for OCD:

Family Therapy

Sometimes OCD can cause problems in the family life. Family therapy is often indicated as a good way to understanding the disorder and reducing family conflicts, and it usually motivates and teaches family members to help teach their relative.

Group Therapy

Group therapy is very useful, because through the interaction of OCD sufferers, people who go through the same situations and problems, it decreases the patient’s feeling of isolation, and encourages the sufferer to deal with the disorder and keep on getting treated.

Anxiety Therapies

OCD is related to anxiety; it is considered an anxiety disorder, so therapies used for the treatment of other types of anxiety may help the OCD sufferer.

New treatments for OCD are being developed and studied. For example, neurosurgical techniques that have been obtaining promissory results are the deep brain stimulation and the gamma-knife capsulotomy.

Obsessions and Compulsions

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:51:00 -0400

The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is characterized by obsessions and compulsions, which vary from person to person.

Obsessions are unwanted ideas, thoughts, images or impulses that come to one’s mind, and they can’t control them. They are recurrent and cause intense pain, anxiety or distress. OCD obsessions can be separated from the common daily obsessions by frequency, intensity and discomfort. There are two types of obsessions: Autogenous and reactive. Autogenous obsessions are intrusive, uncomfortable guilt-provoking thoughts that are caused without a specific reason. Reactive obsessions appear due to external events. People with OCD can present one or both types of obsessions. The obsessions are:

Aggressive Obsessions

People that suffer from OCD often believe that they will hurt loved ones, strangers, pets or even themselves on purpose, just because they think they might act impulsively.
People who suffer from these thoughts usually have no history of violence, and aren’t impulsive.
They believe that having thoughts about harm (they consider these thoughts extremely important, and even dangerous) is as bad as committing harm.
They have violent/horrific mental images, such as bodies, blood and other things related to death and mutilation, and they worry a lot about it.
For example: They fear punching a friend, not when they’re angry, simply because they can.

Causing harm by accident

Some OCD sufferers dread not being careful enough, because of the strong belief that if they don’t perform a list of tasks and precautions, they will harm people around them or even themselves. That is why they are usually anxious or uncertain.
They feel responsible for events that happen due to their actions, or even for events that weren’t caused by their mistakes.
They doubt about having completed a ritual, and if they have completed it, they doubt about having done it correctly.
They might even be uncertain about what they remember. They believe that they must have been somehow responsible for a disaster, but they can’t remember it.
For example: They believe that they will leave a stove on, making the house catch fire.

Contamination Fear

The patients become nervous and restless; they get really preoccupied about the possibility of getting a serious illness that may lead to death, such as cancer, or other diseases.
Because of that, they start being more careful than necessary and are sometimes sure that a specific dangerous substance of material is spreading quickly around them, so they look for a small area considered safe, and make sure that the loved ones are “safe” as well
The most common contamination concerns are:

- The concern with dirt and germs; because of that they might refuse, for example, to touch a public door restroom or even money.

- Excessive concerns about household items; some OCD sufferers, for example, would feel extremely annoyed and anxious when handling hair dyes and pesticides.

- Excessive concerns about environmental contaminants; most of the people are aware that living includes risks, but some patients don’t think that living in a world with asbestos and radiation is such an easy thing to do.

- Bothered by bodily waste or secretions; some OCD patients are afraid that they might get contaminated by saliva, blood or semen, leading to worse consequences. They might relate, for instance, a little red spot to blood left by a HIV carrier, so they would clean it just to feel calmer.

- Bothered by sticky or greasy substances; they feel worried about glue, butter or gel.

- Excessive concern with animals or insects; patients feel disgusted with some animals or insects, such as dogs or flies, and they believe that these animals are dirty and may transmit diseases or infection, because they could be contaminated.

Hoarding and Saving

Some OCDers have worries that lead them to hoarding useless and worthless items
They do that because they have difficulties in making decisions. Some OCD sufferers simply can’t decide what to do with these items, and they think they may need them later, so they fear losing them.
Some researches recommend that hoarding is classified as other disorder, because hoarders suffer from less intrusive thoughts, and don’t feel so compelled to exerting the compulsions.

Religious Obsessions

These obsessions are about always doing the morally correct thing; they are often called scrupulosity.
Unlike many people think, people who suffer from religious obsessions aren’t always religious, they can be non-religious or even atheists; these kind of obsession isn’t about being really devoted to your religion
Some people worry excessively about God being angry to them because they could have, for example, done their prayers at the wrong time of the day, or gotten an extra nickel in change from the cashier or the supermarket.

Sexual Obsessions

People who experience these obsessions usually have intrusive or unpleasant sexual thoughts, related to relatives, close friends or even children, and these thoughts may also be violent and sexually aggressive.
They are embarrassed of their situation and often don’t consider it normal, so they don’t want to seek treatment.

Symmetry and Exactness

People who suffer from this type of obsession have problems about the way objects are arranged.
They feel extremely uncomfortable and jumpy when they notice that the objects are messy or not aligned in a particular way.
The difference between them and perfectionists is that they have strong obsessions that lead to compulsions, and it’s a challenge for these OCD sufferers to stop thinking about the specific object(s) that aren’t arranged in a specific way.
They can also have obsessions when reading a letter where the letters aren’t shaped perfectly, or a note that isn’t perfect.
These people are more likely to show symptoms when they’re younger, and it’s more probable that they have close relatives with OCD.
Individuals with symmetry concerns may worry about an accident that would eventually happen to someone if things aren’t organized “in the right way”, or they could just feel distressed if the symmetry and alignment of the objects doesn’t “feel right”.

Other obsessions

Various Obsessions

- Colors with strong meanings

- Fear of losing objects

- Fear of being misunderstood

- Fear of saying certain things

- Fear that one is very ill

- Lucky/Unlucky numbers

- Need to know all the information about something, to remember it later (even when knowing all the information is useless)
- Strong superstitious fears

2. Less common Obsessions

- Excessive concern with a body part (nose, eyes, hands…) that aren’t related to weight

- Fear of losing one’s positive qualities or changing one’s personality

- Intrusive non-violent images

- Intrusive nonsense words, sounds, music

- Irritation caused by specific sounds

Compulsions are unwanted behaviors or acts (mental of physical) that the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder sufferer feels the need to perform, in order to minimize their anxiety of discomfort and/or getting rid of the possibility of something bad happening to them or to their loved ones. They are a list of rituals that are fulfilled from time to time and can take up a lot of time of the sufferers’ days. The compulsions are:

Checking

Being compulsive about “checking things” is an attempt to reduce the distress and anxiety provoked by the fear of harming others, accidentally or on purpose, or sexual obsessions.
Checking can be performed in specific situations or just as a response to random thoughts that are considered dangerous by the person who has these obsessions.
Most common things that are checked:

- Locks – The person checks them repeatedly, even if they know that they’ve been checked before. The person with OCD fears that someone will break in, steal things or hurt somebody, and they will be guilty for it. OCD sufferers might get this kind of compulsion as a result of a traumatic event, like rape or robbery.

- Stoves, appliances and switches – OCD patients often check if gadgets or other objects that could possibly start a fire are off or unplugged. They are afraid of starting a fire, so when turning off an appliance, they don’t feel safe until it is no longer hot. When they aren’t absolutely sure about whether or not the item is unplugged or turned off they obsess over small things that could start a fire.

- Related to harming others – OCD sufferers tend to feel responsible and guilty if something bad happens, even when they weren’t the ones to cause it, so they check repeatedly if they have accidentally caused harm to other people in any way.

- Related to harming self – The person checks to see if he/she is okay, if they haven’t injured themselves without noticing, etc.

- Surrounding catastrophe – The patient checks if a disaster did/will happen.

- Mistakes – The person checks, several times, if they’ve done something wrong. For example, before handing a test in, they spend more than enough time checking the answers.

- Tied to somatic obsessions – OCD sufferers check features related to the body, both inside and outside. For instance, to see if there are any signs of illness.

Counting

Some OCD patients feel that specific numbers have a “meaning”, which can good or bad, so they believe that certain actions should be performed X times.
They can, for example, think that four is a “good number”, so every time that they get in a room, they feel the need to turn the lights on and off four times. If they don’t do it four times, the action doesn’t seem complete.
These people may count mentally or aloud, and they might also count without thinking about a specific number (e.g. they can count how many steps they walk).

Hoarding and Collecting

It’s a particular type of OCD, and it is characterized by the person storing a lot of objects considered useless and worthless to others. The person is reluctant about getting rid of these objects, and refuses to do that, because they think that they can be useful or even necessary someday.
Hoarding, in most severe cases, can become really embarrassing and distressing; because the person collects so much stuff that it gets to a point where they have to relinquish using, for example, stoves and ovens in order to use them as storages. It may also lead to death, once it’s hard for the person to move around their own house, because there are useless things all over the place, and they can even be hit by a pile of objects.
Compulsive hoarding differs from hobbies that involve, for instance, collecting shells, of saving objects of value (monetary or sentimental). Hoarders collect free items, read junk emails, look through the garbage for “useful” items, collect a bunch of old newspapers and other useless things.
Hoarders report stronger anxiety and depression and more social problems, such as isolation, comparing to other OCD patients. Unlike other OCD sufferers, they have excessive attachment to objects and other possessions, have more trouble with being organized, have bigger problems with decision making and concern more about not being capable of remembering things.

Mental Rituals

These compulsions are mental, which means that people who have this type of OCD don’t perform an overt ritual; they complete the rituals mentally, trying to replace thoughts considered unacceptable or morally wrong (sexual, violent, etc.), by “right” or “correct” ones.
These mental rituals are equivalent to physical ones, because they generate momentarily relief when performed.
These OCD sufferers consider thinking about something inappropriate as being as bad as actually doing it so. Therefore, they believe that thinking about something bad turns them into bad people and feel the huge necessity to control the images and thoughts that cross their minds.
Common mental rituals:

- Special words, images, numbers, prayers repeated mentally in order to neutralize bad thoughts and anxiety caused by bad thoughts or feelings.

- Mental counting, list making, erasing intrusive and unwanted mental images, reviewing (talks, situations, actions, etc.).

Ordering and Arranging

OCD patients are usually worried about order, alignment, symmetry and exactness, resulting in compulsive behaviors
They arrange, line up and organize objects meticulously in a certain way, due to their obsessions, and they don’t stop organizing things until they feel relieved with the result of the arrangement.
For instance, they may spend minutes or even hours organizing their clothes and separating them by color or size, and they can’t send a letter until it is perfectly well written and organized.
Because of that, these individuals may engage in counting, tapping and touching behaviors.

Repeating

The patient fears forgetting information, saying something or doing something inadequate, so he/she may repeat some actions such as:

- Re-reading the same sentence in a book or in a text several times.

- Re-writing repeatedly, in order to correct the writing (and that’s excessive).

- Repeating day-to-day activities.

- Saying the same thing to the same people a lot of times.

Washing and Cleaning

These rituals are the most popular compulsions.
People engaged in these rituals are always decontaminating themselves.
They can be separated into two groups:

- The first group washes and cleans to try to prevent themselves or other people from getting contaminated, getting sick or being harmed. It involves the fear of coming down with a disease or spreading to others whatever causes the disease.

- The second group isn’t preoccupied about harm; they simply feel uncomfortable or contaminated around certain substances, feeling dirty, so they have the need to keep things and themselves clean. These people usually have stronger disgust reactions.

4. There are two types of compulsions performed in order to prevent themselves from getting contaminated and spreading germs. People with contamination fears engage in excessive washing rituals.

- Washing Compulsions

   * Hand-washing – The person washes each finger carefully and individually, and sometimes, the fingernails. Then, he/she dries it with a towel or napkin, to avoid contaminating it again. These hand-washing rituals are so intense that sometimes, the sufferer’s hands even get wounded and bleed.

   * Showering/bathing, tooth-brushing, grooming or doing toilet are excessively done or ritualized.

- Cleaning Compulsions

   * Cleaning household or other inanimate objects, that have come into contact with something/someone considered a threaten by the sufferer.

5. Avoiding Contaminants

- Wearing gloves, using tissues to open doors or doing other things to prevent or remove contamination.

- Avoid touching things that get into contact with the floor or other places considered dirty.

Other Compulsions

Most common:

- Making more lists than the necessary (written lists or verbalized aloud)

- Looking excessively for reassurance from others

- Self-damaging or self-mutilation behaviors (for instance, biting your fingernails to make them all even)

- Excessively superstitious behaviors

- Strong urges to tell, confess or ask something

2. Less usual:

- Tic-like compulsions, such as tapping, touching, rubbing something in a specific occasion, blinking too much or staring.

- Ritualized eating behaviors, that can’t be broken (like eating some foods in a certain day of the week, in a certain amount or order).

Incidence of Obsessions
by Percentage (worldwide)

Contamination: 32.9%
Aggression: 16.6%
Need for Exactness: 8.5%
Religious: 6.3%
Somatic: 6.2%
Sexual: 5.3%
Hoarding/Saving: 4.0%
Miscellaneous: 20.2%

Incidence of Compulsions
by Percentage (worldwide)

Checking: 28.1%
Cleaning/Washing: 25.9%
Mental: 11.5%
Repeating: 11.0%
Ordering/Arranging: 5.3%
Hoarding/Collecting: 3.2%
Counting: 2.6%
Miscellaneous: 12.4%

OCD in Dogs.

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:50:00 -0400

OCD in Dogs.

Myths about OCD

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:50:00 -0400

OCD is also caused by troubled childhood.

MYTH

Genetics or traumas are some of the many factors that can influence in the appearance of the disorder but having problems during the childhood usually doesn’t cause OCD.

OCD can be diagnosed by brain scanning.

MYTH

Brain scans or even any types of scan are not able to diagnose the disorder (only the PET scan can show the difference between a normal person’s brain and someone with OCD’s brain but it is not usually recommended). OCD is usually diagnosed by a professional neurologist specialized in OCD with interviews and extensive investigation.

Patients with OCD are always neat and tidy.

MYTH

To be neat and tidy have become kind of a stereotype of the disorder because many OCD sufferers feel extremely uncomfortable when they notice that the objects are messy or not aligned in a particular way. Some of them also worry obsessively about their appearance, but this is not an exclusive symptom of OCD. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is characterized by obsessions and compulsions, which vary from person to person.

People with OCD can have only obsessions (pure-O).

MYTH

If the person really has OCD she has both obsession and compulsions but sometimes the compulsions are not easily observable, such as mental list-making, mental measuring or counting, mental erasing of unwanted mental images, mental reviewing, silent praying etc, giving the illusion that the person has only the obsession.

Religion makes people compulsive and causes OCD.

MYTH

Although there are rituals in some religions, they will cause the disorder. People who take part in orthodox religious groups have the same risk to have OCD than non-religious people.

How to live with a person who has OCD

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:48:00 -0400

Living with person who has OCD may be very difficult sometimes because family and friends who live with the sufferer also feel its affects. However, they must be very respectful and considerate of the sufferer and might need to understand a little bit more about the disorder. Meanwhile, there are some hints to ease the stress of living with this behavior.

Be supportive

Common misconceptions are that OCD is caused by traumas and bad parenting mainly. Therefore, getting involved with the sufferer’s problems is essential, because family support is crucial for their treatment; they need calm and supportive environment.

Do some research

Learning about the disorder may help you understand more about it and avoid common misconceptions. It would be easier for a friend to help and deal with the sufferer on a daily basis. If you are a member of the family or just live together with him/her, you should follow the treatment and also go to therapy; a therapist could help both of you understand how to help each other without any further stress.

Don’t stop living your life

Although it may not be easy to deal with someone who has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, family and friend need to balance it, if you are not able to cope with it alone, you may need a therapist, not because you have any type of mental problems, but because you might need to open up.

Don’t reinforce compulsive behaviors

Some family members get so involved with the sufferer that helping them in their obsessive rituals seems to be the best way to reduce the distress that the person with OCD is experiencing. However, that kind of involvement may interfere negatively in the patient’s recovery. Nevertheless, if you are used to taking part in the obsessive rituals, you can’t just stop. You need to stop it gradually, otherwise the patient may get confused and irritated with it, and his mental situation may get worse.

We hope to help you improve your quality of life as well as the OCD sufferer’s!

Website for children: http://www.ocdkids.org/3.htm

The influence of obsessive compulsive disorder in patients’ life

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:47:23 -0400

The symptoms of the disorder can be mild so mild that a person might not notice the disorder until it interferes in his/her life. It will eventually disturb the person up to a point that he/she start spending hours of their day on rituals and obsessive behavior.

It may also interfere in their personal lives, making it difficult for the sufferer to relate naturally with other people, be it on a personal or professional level.

Obsessive thoughts become constant and the consequence of this is the compulsion (actions that create a feeling of relief in the patient), so the sufferer repeats the same ritual over and over again. If the OCD carrier doesn’t look for medical and psychological treatment, it is possible for the disorder to go so far that it won’t let the person live, and compulsions will take over the sufferer’s life.

Common Questions about OCD

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:46:00 -0400

At what age can a person begin to show symptoms of OCD?

OCD can start at any time from preschool to adulthood. Although many children might have mild compulsions, they usually go away when kids grow up. OCD (moderate or severe) usually begins in the teens or early twenties. The problem is that sufferers usually don’t seek help and are often diagnosed many years later and until they have felt the impact it has had on their lives and on their own.

Is OCD a common disorder?

For many years, people used to think OCD was a rare disorder, but, nowadays, studies show that about 2.3 % of the American population between 18 to 54 years old may have OCD, for example.

Is OCD a physical illness?

No. OCD is an anxiety disorder, and its symptoms are tied exclusively and directly to the brain, in the central nervous system.

Are some patients with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) victims of prejudgment and discrimination?

Most patients with OCD feel ashamed about having the disorder and try as hard as they can to hide it in order to avoid people’s prejudgment. They are usually discriminated because the media gives the world a wrong image of people with mental illnesses. Sometimes the OCD carrier feels so sad about the discrimination that it is even worse than the disorder itself; that’s why the support given by all people, especially by friends and relatives to OCD sufferers or people with any kind of mental disorder is of utmost importance.

Remember that there is a difference between OCD – the disorder – and symptoms that are OCD-like. Some people do tend to color-code their clothes or insist on perfect alignment of shoes, for example; however, it doesn’t necessarily means that these people suffer from OCD. Actually, it is very common and considered typical for people to have some eccentric characteristics or peculiarities, the biggest difference between that diagnosed OCD is that OCD symptoms can cause great stress and it may become difficult for the sufferer to live a healthy and productive life.

Interview with the father of an 8-year-old OCD sufferer

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:50:00 -0400

How did you find out that your daughter had OCD?

“She began to exhibit strange behavior with several repetitive gestures, as if they were part of a routine.”

When did you start noticing the symptoms? What are them?

“We’ve noticed 3 years ago. Some examples are: the same routine when brushing her teeth and pulling her socks up all the time.”

When did you decide to ask for help?

“When we noticed that we could not make it stop. We thought there could be a problem.”

How old was she when she was diagnosed with OCD?

“5 years old.”

How much do you know about OCD? What would you like to know about it?

“After confirming the diagnosis we began studying the matter and since we deal with it on a daily basis, I’d say we know more than most of the people.”

How and how much do her symptoms affect her and her family (including yourself)?

“The main impact was the irritation of seeing her do things unnecessarily.”

What kinds of treatment does your daughter undergo?

“She takes medicine for anxiety and receives help from a psychologist.”

Do you feel her symptoms are getting better? How much?

“I’d say they are under control and getting better and less apparent, as long as she is kept busy.”

Has she ever been teased about something related to her OCD?

“Not that we are aware of.”

Does she feel sad about having OCD?

“Due to age she might not understand it 100%. We do not talk much about it.”

Does she know exactly what it means to have OCD?

“Yes. Within the understanding of an 8-year-old child.”

People Who Had OCD and Made the Difference

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:44:00 -0400

Can you believe that these very famous and successful people had OCD?

Charles Darwin (there is no real prove that Charles Darwin had OCD, but he had some signs of the disorder and he got incapacitated at the age 28, no one knows if it was or not because of the disorder);

Ludwig Van Beethoven (his obsessions were in his songs, the 33 variations that he made of his composition “Anton Diabelli’s waltz”);

Albert Einstein (perfection);

Michelangelo (control, excessive work and obsession with clothes).

Well they had OCD; and they are also remembered until these days.

Yes, OCD does affect your life, but you can hold on and live your life the way you want to, and we are pretty sure you can go as far as you can dream of!

OCD in Hollywood

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:33:00 -0400

There are a lot of movies and series that show OCD. But there are also a lot of famous and legendary people who suffer from the disorder!

Some of them are:

Jessica Alba

- American actress

Dark Angel Honey;

Sin City;

Fantastic Four and others.

- Symptoms:

Perfectionism and control.

Cameron Diaz

- American actress

There’s Something About Mary;

My Best Friend’s Wedding;

Charlie’s Angels;

Shrek;

Gangs of New York.

- Symptoms:

She opens doors with her elbows, because she doesn’t want to get infected by the door-germs.

She washes her hands many times a day.

Michael Jackson

- American singer

- Symptoms:

His symptoms were similar from the symptoms of Body Dimorphic Disorder (BDD)

David Beckham

- English soccer player

- Symptoms:

Symmetry

Justin Timberlake

- American singer

- Symptoms:

Control

OCD in Movie and Series

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:28:00 -0400

Glee – Emma works at the school and she has a crush on Will Shuester, the Spanish teacher and instructor of Glee Club. Her main symptom is that she needs everything to be cleaned all the time. Her OCD was supposedly caused by a trauma from her childhood.

Glee: Season 2, Episode 18 - Born This Way

Glee is one of the most popular shows nowadays, especially among teenagers. Emma Pillsbury is a Guider Counselor at the Public School McKinley High. In this episode, Emma faces her OCD: Will, a teacher at McKinley High and a close friend of Emma makes her realize that, after 27 years living with OCD, Emma’s symptoms are getting worse and she has to seek treatment. We can observe in Emma’s reaction (she denies having OCD and struggles with it, because she’s too ashamed to seek help) a common behavior of most of the OCD sufferers.

Link for the episode:

http://www.cucirca.com/2011/04/27/glee-season-2-episode-18-born-this-way/

Parts to be watched: 5:12-5:54; 22:40-24:02; 46:40-49:35; 52:50-53:00

Monk – Adrian Monk has lost his job because of his phobias caused by his OCD. With the support of his friends, he is learning how to deal with the disorder, but he stills has some strange reactions, like fear of clouds, germs and others.

As Good As it Gets – MELVIN UDALL lives in Manhattan and suffers from OCD, the movie is a romantic comedy and it is about his friendship with an others man dog, that became his dog and followed his compulsions

(“He is a misogynistic, homophobic, anti-Semitic racist with an intense dislike of people and dogs. All the neighbors in his Greenwich Village apartment building avoid him. His psychotherapist diagnosed Melvin with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) because he avoids stepping on sidewalk cracks and touching other people, wears gloves all the time, wipes off door handles, eats at the same restaurant every day, sits at the same table, insists on the same waitress, Carol, and always orders the same meal.”)-By Birgit Wolz

The Aviator - It is a biographical movie about Howard Hughes. He was a successful film producer, an aviator and also needed to live with OCD.

Sources

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:25:04 -0400

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http://www.ocdtypes.com/contamination-ocd.php - 4/18/2011

http://www.ocdtypes.com/harm-ocd.php - 4/18/2011

http://www.ocdtypes.com/harming-ocd.php - 4/18/2011

http://www.ocdtypes.com/sexual-ocd.php - 4/18/2011

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