The following is a case study of a male client, Carl Landau, who suffers from an anxiety disorder. In particular, obsessive compulsive disorder. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are unnecessary thoughts that tend to be obsessions that lead to repetitive behaviors, also known as compulsions. It is characterized by irrational thoughts and fears that can lead to compulsive behaviors. It often focuses on topics such as the fear of germs or the want to place things in a specific manner. Individuals with this disorder typically recognize that their obsessive behaviors and thoughts are illogical but even so, they feel as if it is something that is uncontrollable. The client was diagnosed and given a valuation with the aim of defining the …show more content…
These symptoms included including excessive washing and showering; ceremonial rituals for dressing and studying; compulsive placement of objects he handled; grotesque hissing, coughing, and head tossing while eating; and shuffling and wiping his feet while walking. Like a majority of most cases these behaviors hindered with every aspect of his daily life and routine. Subsequently two years later, he had isolated himself from his friends and family, stopped eating and even declining to eat at times, and started to neglect his own look. His hair begun to grow longer and longer due to not getting it cut for five years. While walking, he took small steps and scuffled his toes while looking back, checking and rechecking his steps. Often, he would even run in place. Seven weeks prior to Carl 's admission to the hospital, his behavior started to worsen where it became time consuming and debilitating that he would refuse to engage in any personal hygiene activities because he had a fear that grooming and cleaning would become an issue from him being able to study. Although, he used to shower on an everyday basis, he stopped brushing his teeth, washing his hair, and even changing his clothes. Carl also started to become a turtle in his shell, and leaving his room less. He started to use paper towels to release his waste on and using paper cups to urinate in,
Soon he got worse and Ms. Miller found this out and wouldn’t let him go anywhere no matter what. One day Carl chugged several cans of Mountain Dew and
Her symptoms started small. She exercised, but slowly it came more extreme. She counted every calorie of every meal. Sally stopped eating her favorite food, like ice-cream and cake. Her family did not understand the seriousness of what was happening. Her menstrual cycle was thrown off, and did not come for some months. Her hair fell out, whether it was from stress or the disorder, it was unsure yet.
I did” and “You want me to swallow this whole bottle of Aspirin?” And I did. Suddenly, the way they were looking at me sank in. They were scared to death” (p. 39). Another example of this symptom is, “The admission note summed things up pretty well: “Thin, tall, chain-smoking, sad, inappropriate laughter times, seems physically and mentally retarded”. I hated myself” (p.77). Lastly, she showed this type of grossly disorganized symptom with what she was wearing which wasn’t appropriate for the weather for example, “It was January-cold and damp and raw, with light patches of hoarfrost on the ground. I was wearing only jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers, and I was cold to my bones” (p.
What is OCD? OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a psychological disorder that makes an individual have a great deal of anxiety due to unwanted thoughts. The individual will try to reduce it by engaging in repetitive behaviors or compulsions. OCD is a part of an individual’s everyday life, so it is natural to have some obsessive thoughts. However, when it interferes with your every day lifestyle, then the individual knows that it’s a disorder. An example of the most common OCD that someone may encounter are contamination, accidental harm to others, perfection when it comes to washing, cleaning, or arrangement of things. Obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms can change over time. It is most common
His sister stated that he had difficultly following simple instructions, needed reminders to take care of his personal hygiene and grooming, and to take his medication. He had problems managing money, “he just spend and spend till is all gone.” He spent the day watching television, eating, sleeping, and with Facebook. He was legally blind, had problems with memory, concentration, understanding, following instructions, completing tasks, and getting along with others.
He reported difficulty taking care of his personal hygiene and grooming, had mobility limitations, and problems using his right hand. He had difficulty with memory, concentration, completing tasks, and getting along with people. He had difficulty sleeping because of pain and mental issues. He was unable to do house chores. He lived with his family in a small trailer on his parent’s property; his mother and older brother took care of him. He did not like crowds, interacted mostly with his relatives.
Carl’s life lacks meaning and purpose simply because he doesn’t wish to help or benefit anyone but himself. He also threatens to kill both Molly and Oda Mae, if he doesn’t receive his
Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is a type of severe anxiety disorder that impacts an individual’s entire life and way of functioning. Obsessions are considered intrusive and recurrent thoughts or impulses that cannot be removed through reasoning. Compulsions are the repetitive and ritualistic behaviors and actions that associate with the obsessions. These compulsions are to be performed according to specific rules or methods and are thought to prevent or reduce stress and feared situations. Both compulsions and obsessions cause disabling levels of anxiety. The individual affected is often able to recognize the behavior as excessive and irrational, but is unable to control or stop the behaviors without intervention.
She seems to have good insight into her behaviors and recognizes that they are irrational, as she describes them as “stupid and not making sense”, but reports that she feels the need to continue to participate in the behaviors. She reports feeling fearful that something bad would happen to her family if she did not participate in the behaviors or ritual, particularly that her grandmother may become sick. She reports being preoccupied with germs, which leads her to spend hours, over six hours of her day in ritualistic behaviors including shaking out her clothing for a half an hour and washing her hands with rubbing alcohol. As a result, her hands have become bloody and painful, as well as her personal hygiene has become neglected, as she is not brushing her hair or eating breakfast. She has missed out on fun things as a result of being unable to leave the house in a timely manner as a result of her obsessions and compulsive behaviors. She also reports a preoccupation with numbers and words and in her mind needs to add these numbers together. She seems to have good insight, as previously stated, as she is said to be “sensible”, recognizes that her behaviors are not normal, and is able to make the connection of her childhood surroundings with her current obsessions and
She would also wash her hands repetitively before doing anything else, which would take her an additional 6 hours a day; which in terms of diagnosing this specific disorder, the obsessions or compulsions are time-consuming, often times taking more than 1 hour per day. Whenever she would hear a word that would have to do with germs or disease, she would consider it something bad and therefore would have to go through her mind to make it ok, such as numbers or words (e.g., the number 3 and multiples of 3 and words like, “soap and water”) that seemed to protect her from those bad words. She was always petrified that something bad would really occur if she did not perform this ritual, mostly worrying that bad things would happen to her family, such as her grandmother, who she would worry something that she did could cause her to get really
Obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder described by irrational thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive tasks (compulsions) (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, 2013). When a person has obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may realize that their obsessions aren't accurate, and they may try to overlook them but that only increases their suffering and worry. Eventually, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to ease your stressful feelings. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is often driven by a reason, cause, or fear for example, a fear of germs. To calm the feeling of this fear, a person may compulsively wash their hands until they're sore and chapped. Despite their efforts, thoughts of obsessive-compulsive behavior keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior and a brutal cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes (Who We Are, 2012). In the United States, one in 50 adults suffers from OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects children, adolescents, and adults. About one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, they felt these anxieties but were not diagnosed or felt no need to be diagnosed until the compulsions over whelmed them (Who We Are, 2012). The phrase obsessive compulsive has been used to describe excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated person. While
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a common chronic disorder in which a person has uncontrollable and recurrent thoughts and behaviors that he or she feels the urge to repeat. OCD often centers on things such as a fear of germs or the need to arrange objects in a specific manner. Symptoms normally start off gradually and vary throughout life. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is described to have appeared since the early seventeenth century. There are more than 200,000 cases in the US of people with OCD per year. The most common age range of people affected by OCD ranges from 6-60 years old. OCD commonly affects adults, adolescents, and children all over the world. Most people tend to be diagnosed by the age of 19. The typical age for boys is 9 and
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disorder that causes someone to have unwanted and troubling thoughts and repetitive behaviors (Lack, 2012). People may self-diagnose themselves to be obsessive compulsive. But people with obsessive compulsive disorder need to spend at least 1 hour daily on obsessive thoughts and rituals (Ellyson, 2014). This disorder is broken into two parts. The first part is obsessions, thoughts or images, and the second part is compulsions, the repetitive behaviors caused by the obsessions (Brakoulias, 2015). An example of obsessive compulsive disorder would be someone checking the locked door multiple times to reduce anxiety about forgetting to lock the door. On average 5% of the population has subclinical symptoms which are considered to be symptoms that are not disruptive enough to meet criteria to be diagnosed obsessive compulsive (Lack, 2012). Dropping what you’re doing to go back and check if your curling iron is unplugged is an example of a subclinical symptom. This paper will discuss what obsessive compulsive disorder is and provide a brief history. It will also include current treatments, suggestions on how to treat the disorder, and a summary.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is influenced by neurological factors with symptoms such as repeating steps, continuously washing their hands, and having a fear of objects like germs. Although there is no cure, there are treatments such as medication and therapy that can help lessen the patient’s anxiety and discomfort.