Obsessive- compulsive disorder - Essay Example

Obsessive- compulsive disorder Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is considered as one of the most common serious mental illnesses (Heyman, Mataix-Cols, & Fineberg, 2006 cited in Josefa Canals et al 119). Nevid defined it as an “intrusive unwanted, recurrent thought, image, or urge that seems beyond a person’s ability to control”. It is a chronic and relapsing anxiety marked by repetitive compulsion that impairs an individual’s function (March and Schub). Obsession is the irresistible urge to do certain things while the compulsion partially relieves the obsessive thinking (Nevid).

Most compulsions are categorized as checking rituals and cleaning rituals. Checking rituals are the compulsion associated with the repeated checking of anything to the point of annoyance that ranges from checking if the doors are locked to checking if the fridge doors are closed. Cleaning rituals as what the title suggests, is the obsession towards cleanliness rituals that already impedes an individual’s normal function. It differs from delusions which are present in other disorder such as schizophrenia because the individual recognizes that their anxiety can be excessive and unreasonable (Nevid), In addition to the psychological manifestation of the disorder such as compulsion to perform checking and cleaning rituals, obsessive compulsive disorder has also physical symptoms and clinical presentation.

Physical manifestation of the disorder includes “increased perspiration, dry mouth, hyperventilation, and palpitations” (March and Schub). It also has cognitive indicators such as rigidity, poor coping and social skills, performance anxiety in addition to the repetitive thoughts and behavioral patters (March and Schub). As earlier mentioned, obsessive compulsive disorder is considered as one of the most common mental disorder with an estimated prevalence of 1.7 to 4% prevalence in the United States with the mean onset age of 19.

6 years old. The distribution of the disorder among adults seemed to equal between the two genders (male and female) but symptom arises earlier among males at 6-15 years while 20-29 years among females. Males are also likely to be affected three times more compared to females in childhood (March and Schub). Treatment and intervention of obsessive compulsive disorder varies. One of the most common therapy is psychological behavior therapy or CBT in conjunction with psychotropic medication by taking selective serotonin inhibitors.

Chronic and severe obsessive compulsive disorder however can go beyond the behavioral and medicational therapy and can include surgically implanting neurostimulator that functions as deep brain stimulation to stimulate a specific area of the brain. With the more severe treatment of refractory obsessive compulsive disorder, intervention could include cingulotomy, a neurosurgical procedure which severe the supracallosal fibers of the cingulum bundle of the brain (March and Schub). On minor case of obsessive compulsive disorder, patients are usually given clinical education such as how to better cope with obsessive compulsive behaviors by learning relaxation techniques.

These treatments and the combination of these treatments yield an approximate 70% improvement among patients entering into therapy whereby they experience significant improvement in symptoms. Of the 70% who experienced improvement however, only 5% experience a complete remission between episodes of exacerbation of the disorder. The rest usually undergoes a series of chronic symptoms waxing and waning in the duration of the patient’s lifetime (March and Schub). Works CitedJosefa Canals Sans, et al.

"Socio-Demographic And Psychopathological Risk Factors In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Epidemiologic Study Of School Population." International Journal Of Clinical Health & Psychology 13.2 (2013): 118-126. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 June 2013.March, PD, and T Schub. "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder." (2012): CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 23 June 2013.Nevid, Jeffrey S. et. al .Essentials of Abnormal Psychology, Third Canadian Edition N.Y.:Pearson, 2013