OCDBY CHRIS TOPONCE

What is OCD?

• OCD is a psychiatric anxiety disorder characterized by awkward situations and actions by means of repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing alleged anxiety.

• OCD can cause those who have it to appear paranoid or psychotic. However, many of those who have OCD recognize that their thoughts are irrational, which causes them ample discomfort.

• Though a certain cause is unknown, it is suspected that serotonin receptors of OCD sufferers are under-stimulated. Some medications for OCD provide the brain with excess serotonin to help stimulate.

Symptoms Of OCD

• Some signs to watch for in suspected OCD cases include obvious, unnecessary, time-consuming and repetitive tasks that directly interfere with the sufferer’s public/private life.

• Sufferers may also be forcefully attempting to avoid/ignore daily events in order to “block out” intrusive thoughts that may trigger certain compulsions.

• Even excessive hair pulling, skin picking and nail biting are on the OCD spectrum of compulsions.

• Those with OCD realize that their actions/thoughts are not rational, but simply feel bound to comply with them in order to fend off bad feelings, dread or fear of a possible bad event.

OCD Examples

• Examples of common OCD practices:– Constantly right-clicking and clicking the “Refresh” option 3 times on

the desktop of a personal computer.– Saying “Goodnight” 3 times before one is satisfied.– Never throwing anything away, fearing negative events may occur.– Avoiding even or odd numbers in nearly all situations possible.– Checking locks on doors repeatedly to make sure they’re locked.– MUST wear matching clothing all the time.– If mistakes are made while writing, the entire sheet is scrapped and

the sufferer will start from scratch for perfection’s sake.– Doing everything possible in numerical sequence.– Opening/closing a door a certain number of times before using it.

• Always making sure that a digital project is absolutely perfectly centered.• Constantly tweaking settings of something until they aren’t just satisfied,

but until the settings are absolutely perfectly set.• Making sure that all aspects of any given item/project/thing are perfect.• Always start an activity with the left/right side of their body. Ex. They

always start walking up stairs with their left foot first.• Keeping everything perfectly organized according to the sufferer’s

standards.• Washing one’s hands excessively and repeatedly. Some sufferers may wash

their hands until they bleed from it. This is an extremely common symptom.

Simple Case Study Example

• John is a 42-year-old accountant whose obsessive “checking” behaviors are gradually taking up more and more of his time.

He spends at least an hour every morning checking and rechecking that the windows are latched, the security alarm is

set and the front door is locked. At work, John goes over his clients’ books again and again, out of fear that he’s missed

something or made a mathematical error. Consequently, his productivity has plummeted. Lately, John has also started to worry about his wife’s safety, calling her every three hours to see if she’s okay. He’s afraid that if he misses a call, something

bad will happen to her.

Treatments

• There is currently no cure for OCD.• Management treatments for OCD include:

– Medication; usually, some types of antidepressants are used, for they prevent serotonin reuptake, to a degree. This allows the neurons to absorbs more serotonin. (paroxetine/sertraline/fluoxetine)

– Electroconvulsive Therapy (Electroshock Therapy)– Support Groups– Professional Therapy Sessions (minor cases)– Exposure & Ritual Prevention (ERP); involves the sufferer to be

constantly exposed to their quirks and *hopefully* obtain some control over them. Results flip positively and negatively.

Sources

• http://www.ocdonline.com/• http://www.ocfoundation.org/• http://www.brainphysics.com/• http://www.mentalhelp.net/• http://www.nimh.nih.gov/• http://www.behaviortherapyny.com/• http://www.ocdawareness.com/• http://medlineplus.gov/• http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/me

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