Obsessive Compulsive & Related Disorders
Keilyn Dominguez
Human Growth & Development
Florida National University
Abstract:
This research focuses on the effects of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders in the daily life of individuals and how they cope with these disorders. This research describes the symptoms and difficulties that people of different ages face in detail and includes examples of case studies done on individuals and their families and how they learned to cope with the illnesses. The research I have done explains what the criteria is to be able to diagnose a person with an obsessive-compulsive disorder or similar disorders as well that are listed in the text. I have also included a brief history on the disorders, causes and preventions specified to the disorders, treatments, and a how-to for parents or family members who have someone close to them dealing with these specific disorders.
Table of Contents
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE & RELATED DISORDERS
What is OCD?………………………………………………………………………………………………..Page
Diagnosing OCD and Similar Disorders………………………………………..…….Page
A History of the Disorder……………………………………………………….……. Page
Causes and Preventions…………………………………………………….…………Page
Similar Disorders……………………………………………………………………. Page
Treatments……………………………………………………………………………. Page
Overcoming Disorders…………………………………………………..…………… Page
A How-To for Parents…………………………………………………………..……. Page
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………. Page
References……………………………………………………………………………. Page
What is OCD?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a “common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over.” Many people who suffer from OCD can also suffer from other fixations such as being a clean freak (afraid of germs), intense phobias such as social phobia, aggressions towards themselves and/or others, and indecent thoughts involved with sex and religion. It’s not out of the “ordinary” to double check if you locked your front door before you leave to work, but to have to check it seven times because if not you feel that the world will collapse if you don’t is not.
To Diagnose OCD:
To have OCD means to have obsessions and compulsions characterized by “thoughts, impulses or images that occur over and over again, repeated behaviors, and the point of these behaviors is to reduce stress and prevent a feared event or situation.” To be diagnosed with OCD the following conditions must be met:
Specify if…
• With good or fair insight: The Individual recognizes that obsessive-compulsive disorder beliefs are definitely or probably not true or that they may or may not be true.
• With poor insight: The individual thinks obsessive-compulsive disorder beliefs are probably true.
• With absent insight/delusional beliefs: The individual is completely convinced that obsessive-compulsive disorder beliefs are true.
• Tic-related: The individual has a current or past history of a tic disorder.
Obsessions and compulsions must be diagnosed as time consuming, meaning the behaviors or mental acts take more than 1 hour per day to complete. People with OCD have very distinctive personalities that may indicate the presence of a obsessive-compulsive disorder (e.g., an inflated sense of responsibility, tendency to overestimate, perfectionism, intolerance to uncertainty, and over importance of thoughts). Many of these traits are common in religiously active individuals who believe that having a forbidden thought is just as bad as acting on that thought. These obsessions and compulsions are usually triggered by something the individual sees or experiences that then causes them to have anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Depending on how recurring these triggers occur is how many attacks this person might have. Many people suffering from these triggers end up attempting to avoid them overall (e.g., a neat freak avoiding public bathrooms and low-end restaurants).
A Brief History of the Disorder:
Obsessive-compulsive acts have been written about since the sixth century where John Climacus, a monk who lived in the Sinai desert, wrote his book The Ladder of Divine Ascent where he spoke about “unspeakably blasphemous thoughts”, to the seventeenth century when Shakespeare wrote about Lady Macbeth’s compulsive hand washing, to the nineteenth century where William Hammond, who served as a surgeon general in the U.S. Army during the Civil War, helped a young girl who sought treatment from him for Mysophobia (obsessive fear of contamination).
Conclusion:
References:
• Climacus, J. (1982). The ladder of divine ascent. New York: Paulist Press.
• NIMH » Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/index.shtml
• Shakespeare, W. (1947). Macbeth (J. D. Wilson & B. Rogers, Eds.). Cambridge: University Press. Act 5, Scene 1.
• William Alexander Hammond, A Treatise on Insanity in Its Medical Relations (D. Appleton, 1883), 428-430.
• Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. (2013). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association. Pages 235-253
• Diagnosing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). (2015). Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/OCD.html
• Barrett, P. M., Rasmussen, P. J., & Healy, L. (2000). The effect of obsessive compulsive disorder on sibling relationships in late childhood and early adolescence: Preliminary findings. The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 17(2), 82–102. doi:10.1017/S0816512200028170