Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - More than 4 Million Cases in the US - Research Paper Example

 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychopathological condition which highly affects the quality of life of an individual who suffers from this disease. It is classified as a psychological condition which is mainly an anxiety disorder. This disease condition is rated at the fourth number in the list of most frequent psychological conditions. An adult case of this disorder is reported in every 40 individuals. Its occurrence is twice as much of the psychopathological condition of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Rector et al 2001). In the United States of America 3.3 million cases of the disease are reported in adults and 1 million cases for teenagers and children (WebMD 2009). Obsessive compulsive disorder as the name implies is a condition constituted mainly by obsessions followed by compulsions. To explain this in depth obsession is basically a thought that goes around in a person’s mind all the time. This leads these patients to actually comply with these thoughts and perform the same task again and again. For instance a person feels that his hands are full of germs despite of the fact that he has already washed them. He still keeps on washing them again and again. This obsession can also be related to other things and occurrences in one’s life. These people are aware of the fact that the thoughts that they are having are meaningless but they do not possess self control to come over these thoughts and if they do not perform that task they become anxious. This drives them to fulfill that work which satisfies them temporarily but within a short time the obsessions start shadowing a person’s mind again and hence the person is compelled to perform the same task again (Hyman et al and National Institute of Mental Health 2009). Obsessive compulsive disorder affects both the sexes at an equal rate and does not also have any predisposition towards a particular race or country. The disease is actually present for years before it is recognized and treated (Rector et al 2001). The common age of occurrence of this disease is 19 years. There is a great difference between the activities performed by a normal person and a person who is suffering from this condition. This is because even a normal person would check certain things and even think about certain matters which concern him and his life. But a patient suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder actually overdoes these activities more than normal to an extent that they affect the day to day life of an individual (National Institute of Mental Health 2009). The causes of the occurrence of the disease have been associated with biological, psychological, familial, social, cultural and environmental reasons. The disease has been reported to have a genetic predisposition with people in the same family having greater chances to suffer from this condition than the people who do not have the disease running in their family. The rate of the occurrence is 4 times greater in the familial pattern. Sufferers of certain pathological conditions like tic pathologies and Tourette’s syndrome also have a very high tendency of suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. It is also seen that if one of a twin is suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, the other one has a very high chance to suffer from it too. Neurologic associations with the development of the disease have also been seen. The brain images of normal individuals are compared with those of patients of obsessive compulsive disorder. This shows that the vascular supply differs in both the individuals. Not only this, specific regions of the brain particularly areas in the basal ganglia, cortex and caudate nucleus are hyperactive in individuals suffering from this condition. Though a definitive conclusion cannot be reached from this but after the individual’s therapy starts all these regions start working in the normal fashion. There has been association found between obsessive compulsive disorder and the levels of serotonin which are mainly believed to be lower than normal in these people. This is the reason why selective serotonin re uptake inhibitors are used in curing the condition. The bacteria streptococci have also been found to be related in resulting in this psychological condition in children. This bacterial organism basically leads to throat infections and it is believed that it probably leads to the formation of auto antibodies against certain regions in the brain particularly the basal ganglia. This serves to perform as a trigger in the evolving of this condition in children (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Commissioned by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence 2005 and Rector et al 2001). This is referred to as PANDAS which stands for pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections. Up to 25 percent of the occurrence of obsessive compulsive disorder in children is associated with PANDAS if the bacterial infection is not treated completely or if it occurs again and again (Hyman et al 2009). Occurrences in a person’s life can also provide for a factor to lead to obsessive compulsive disorder particularly in those people who already have a predisposition towards the development of this condition. For people who are already suffering from it, it can be a reason for aggravating the symptoms. Social differences tend to lead to different obsessive thoughts in the people suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder because the beliefs and activities of a person are determined from what he learns from his particular society and culture. Over nurturing by the family and family disturbances can either lead to the development of this condition or they may also be involved in aggravating this disorder (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Commissioned by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence 2005). Changes in a person’s environment can also serve to lead to this condition in people who have a predisposition towards developing it or they can make the condition of a sufferer further decline. Problems in everyday life which include issues related to a person’s job or study place, ill health and disturbances in living patterns are a few of these reasons. Disturbed relations and loss of close associates can also serve to be the causes (WebMD 2009). The everyday life of an individual is affected in many ways due to this condition. People who live with this disorder actually lead to life of a very poor quality with many hindrances in their everyday performances. They have a constant fear from things and they keep on performing similar tasks again and again. These tasks include completely engaging oneself in prayers or the person lives with the dread that he has left some task incomplete. This includes checking the doors for their locks. They might even have obsessions with collecting things. These people are not able to perform well in tests. It has been seen that a patient might have the horror that he might cheat in the exam and this fear preoccupies the person during the entire exam and hence affects the results (Hyman et al 2009 and Rector et al 2001). “Things keep coming in to my home but nothing goes out. I don’t think I even know what I have because of everything being so mixed up. NO ONE has been in the apartment for years. I’m sure my landlords would throw me out if they saw the condition of my place. I often think, what if there was a fire? I don’t dare light candles and I love candles. I’m fearful of meeting someone I could care about because I could never bring him here to my home and he would be as disgusted with me as I am with myself.” These lines present with the account of a sufferer of this condition. This individual has the obsession of collecting objects. Thus it is a very difficult life for the patients since they are aware of their condition and they live a life of fear which prevents them from engaging into relationships as well. These people also are not able to discuss their problems with others despite of the fact that they are aware of them (Rector et al 2001). Thus obsessive compulsive disorder can be counted as an anxiety disorder which affects the day to day life of an individual. This is a curable condition and hence awareness should be created so that a person himself or one’s family can know about this condition. This can assist in bring a person’s life back on track and help in relieving the problems associated with it. A person can then lead a normal life. References: Top of Form Hyman, Bruce M., and Cherry Pedrick. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2009. http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=paiZpVdAG-cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=obsessive+compulsive+disorder&source=bl&ots=EandsFkC_U&sig=oqy3a-kte4dyWeWF0NFC9fO9N18&hl=en&ei=l4jcS8ukOMmzrAfyuLDlBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAoQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q&f=false Bottom of Form Top of Form National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.). When Unwanted Thoughts Take Over: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. [Bethesda, Md.]: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2009. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/when-unwanted-thoughts-take-over-obsessive-compulsive-disorder/complete.pdf National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Commissioned by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Obsessive compulsive disorder: Core interventions in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder. 2005. http://www.psychminded.co.uk/news/news2005/May05/OCD2ndconsfullguideline.pdf Top of Form Rector, Neil A. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Guide for People with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Their Families. Toronto, ON: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 2001. Bottom of Form http://www.camh.net/about_addiction_mental_health/mental_health_information/ocd/ocd_guide.pdf WebMD . Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. 2009 http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/obsessive-compulsive-disorder Bottom of Form Read More