Research Paper On Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Compulsions are repeated, purposeless, and elaborately time-consuming behaviors that are usually performed in response to an obsession. The behaviors are an attempt to neutralize or prevent a dreadful event from happening. Some common compulsions include excessive hand washing, showering, checking, counting, and hoarding. Compulsions can be thoughts or physical behaviors that may or may not be set to some self-imposed rules.

Studies have found that drugs such as clomipramine, fluoxetine, and fluvoxamine help between 50 and 80% of patients. The downfall to this type of treatment is that once the patient comes off of the medication the obsessions and compulsions return. This treatment only covers the symptoms of this disorder. Since there are downfalls to each treatment, cognitive, behavioral, and biological therapies are often used in combination. Obsessive-compulsive disorder can last for years or even be life long depending on how successful the treatment is.

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.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental disorder which it symptoms are having routines, or thoughts repeatedly with no ability to avoid the fear and stop them. Some people are aware of those habits, and they realize that those rituals do not make sense, but there is no an easy way to get out of them. Counting all the clothes, shoes, magazines and lie in in a straight line are illustrations when obsessive-compulsive symptoms arrive.

OCD follows a pretty typical cycle, in which patients have obsessions that can become triggered, and when they become triggered, the patient feels anxiety. In order to combat that anxiety, they will try to relive it by creating behaviors, called compulsions. The compulsions temporarily provide relief until the obsessions are triggered again. There are a few common types of OCD:

Pharmacological treatment is based on the evidence that serotonin is a key chemical involved in obsessive compulsive disorder. Studies have proven that serotonin based antidepressants have been evidently effective.

There have been no genes identified specifically for OCD, although research shows that genes do play a part in the development of OCD. Development of OCD during childhood runs in families. If one or both parents have OCD, there is a bigger chance that the child will have OCD, but it is still a very low chance. Other than this, there is no proven cause of OCD. Research shows that OCD is the result of problems with communication between the front part of the brain and deeper structures. These two brain structures use the chemical serotonin and low levels of serotonin is thought to be involved in OCD. Therefore, drugs that increase serotonin levels often help with the symptoms of OCD. Another form of treatment for OCD is called cognitive behavior therapy and has shown to be effective in both children and adults. This type of therapy involves retraining your thoughts and routines so that the compulsions are no longer necessary. This therapy usually exposes you to your fear or obsession and teaches you healthy ways to deal with it. People with OCD

Imagine feeling like a slave in your own body. Being forced to do ridiculous rituals and having constant compulsions to do things that you know don’t make sense. This is what it is like to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In the United States alone, over 2 million people suffer from OCD (Parks, 2011) but no one has found the cause of this disorder. It affects people of all races, genders and socioeconomic backgrounds (Parks, 2011). Since it’s discovery and modern conceptualization, there has been an ongoing debate whether OCD is caused by environmental factors or if it is inherited through genetics. However, since both sides of the debate raise a solid argument and there is not enough hard evidence, the source of the disorder

"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by obsessions or compulsions". ( Kring, Johnson, Davison,& Neal 2014) The obsession individuals with OCD experiences are excessive and it affects individuals with functioning normally in their everyday life. According to Kring et al., (2014 ) obsessions are intrusive and recurring thoughts, images, or impulses that are persistent and uncontrollable and often appear irrational to the person experiencing them. Compulsions are when someone has to do the same repetitive behavior in order to relieve distress of what is in their thoughts. People with this disorder also feel anxious and have other anxiety disorders. "Though OCD was considered a type of

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or acts that are aimed at reducing anxiety, usually caused by the obsessions, but not always (Beidel, Frueh, & Hersen, 2014).

clearing demonstrating the compulsion that is too often difficult to control, even though it appears

Obsessions are unwanted ideas or impulses that repeatedly well up in the mind of a person with OCD. These are thoughts and ideas that the sufferer cannot stop thinking about. A sufferer will almost always obsess over something which he or she is most afraid of. Common ideas include persistent fears that harm may come to self or a loved one, an unreasonable concern with becoming contaminated, or an excessive need to do things correctly or perfectly. Again and again, the individual experiences a disturbing thought, such as, "My hands may be contaminated -- I must wash them" or "I may have left the gas on" or "I am going to injure my child." These thoughts tend to be intrusive, unpleasant, and produce a high degree of anxiety. Sometimes the obsessions are of a violent or a sexual nature, or concern illness. People with OCD who obsess over hurting themselves or others are actually less likely to do so than the average person. Obsessions are typically automatic, frequent, distressing, and difficult to control or put an end to by themselves. With these reoccurring obsessions continuously being played in the sufferers mind, they start performing repetitive acts that reassure them that their hands aren’t dirty, or the gas for the stove is turned of. This response to their obsession is called a compulsion.

It started with a chill, each vertebrae vibrating one by one up my spine. Then the heat, my face flush and palms clammy. I could never keep up with my breathing, for it seemed as though each time I breathed out, I needed more air almost immediately. Soon, my mind was flooded with unsettling images, a new one appearing nearly every second, each worse than the last. Everything that I found comfort in was now an enemy. When will this end? My body could not keep up with the trembles and I could not resist the urge to scream. Was this room always so small? My eyes grew indecisive, darting across the room, until the capillaries within them bulged so greatly that I clenched my eyelids shut. Then, a long, deep breath.

Knowing what OCD is the first step in understanding the psychology of the disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “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” (NIMH). The obsessive part of OCD is intrusive, repetitive thoughts the cause anxiety, and the compulsion part is the need to perform an act or ritual repeatedly. The obsession causes anxiety and the compulsion relieves the anxiety.

In a general view, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is associated with obsessions and compulsions. The obsessions are recurrent thoughts, fears, images, ideas, urges, and doubts. Patients suffering from this disorder often go through fluctuating episodes of compulsion which are in response to an obsessive thought, such as arranging, touching, repeatedly checking on something, and recurrent hand-washing. The patient experiences repeated rise in anxiety from the obsessions, that compels them to indulge in their compulsions as a form of relief (Brown University, 2013). Most of the patients suffering