Living in a World with OCD - Essay Example

It isn't a pretty sight, and it is not as easy to deal with as one might think. Most people think of OCD as a thought disorder rather than what it really is, an anxiety disorder. People who are afflicted with this disorder may seem strange to the rest of us because they tend to be recurrent obsessions about perceived threats. Dr. Phillipson (n.d.) explains that these obsessions normally “take the form of either a perceived threat of physical harm to oneself or others or, in some cases, more of a metaphysical or spiritual threat to oneself, others, or perhaps a deity”.

Even more surprising is that according to Phillipson (n.d.), “ 80% of all cases, persons performing these rituals are painfully aware that their behavior is unreasonable and irrational”, but they are powerless to stop themselves from acting out the behavior physically. “ That is the reality of a person living in a world dominated by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. They cannot control their actions even if they tried because they are not in control of their thought process like a normal person would be.

Which is why an OCD afflicted person cannot simply be ordered to stop what he is doing. Instead, he requires professional care, understanding, and patience from those around him. He can't help what he is doing for in his mind, he must act that way in order to insure his own safety. He is not abnormal, he is merely afflicted with an illness that is considered to be one of the most common mental illnesses to date. Some of the more common forms of OCD according to Hyman and DuFrene (2008) include compulsive checking, washing and cleaning, order and symmetry, hoarding, scrupulosity, or can sometimes even be health related (hypochondria) or manifest simply as a pure obsession.

A person living with OCD allows his bad thoughts to envelop him with guilt and feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility towards what he thinks might happen. Hyman and DuFrene (2008) observe that the OCD afflicted often feel like they are overwhelmed with fear and the only way they can control the emotion is by undergoing certain rituals and behaviors. They explain the situation as “. the brain circuitry glitch of OCD makes your struggle to do things just right, without the remotest possibility of error, miscue, or imperfection.

” This is most often the reason why OCD patients consider themselves isolated and alone, without any possibility of help coming from anywhere or anyone. Modern medicine has developed ways and means by which a person can now control his OCD behavior. Hyman and DuFrene (2008) advocate that the solution lies in a class of drugs known as serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. They present data that shows that the drug enhances the brain level of serotonin where, in a clinical study “the medications relieve symptoms by 30 to 60 percent in most OCD sufferers”.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is also a method by which OCD patients learn to live with and control their symptoms and actions. Known as Exposure and response prevention, Hyman and DuFrene (2008) explains that this is a symptom focused treatment which helps to break the obsessive cycle by helping the patient learn alternative ways with which to deal with the disturbing thoughts and compulsive urges. This is not a cure of OCD but the patients who have successfully undergone the therapy program under a licensed psychotherapist prove to effectively help manage the OCD symptoms throughout ones life.

Another method by which an OCD