Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Its Symptoms and Treatment - Essay Example

Obsessive - Compulsive Disorder by Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a serious anxiety disorder which affects 2-3% of population of the planet. It is characterized by intrusive thoughts, images, and fears that arouse anxiety in patients (obsessions). As a result those suffering from OCD have specific thinking patterns that prevent them from coping with these problems in a normal way. This leads to acquiring a number of repetitive rituals (compulsions). Sometimes OCD cases can be characterized by either obsessions or compulsions. People with OCD most typically have fear of contamination; strange rituals like checking the lock for several times or can suffer from obsessive sexual fantasies. OCD is proved to have genetic, biological, and psychological factors combination as the reason. Neurochemists connect OCD with abnormalities in serotonin and dopamine balance while genetics claim that the disorder can be inherited. There is some evidence that OCD is often misdiagnosed and mistreated as it is usually accompanied by chronic depression, bipolar disorder, and other types of anxiety disorder. A combination of several approaches, such as cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy, and medication therapy, is utilized for OCD treatment and gives positive results for most patients. Counseling is directed to exposure of the patients with OCD to repetitive rituals for their further responses prevention and challenging obsessive fears and ideas. Medication includes a course of serotonin reuptake inhibitors which show high efficacy in treatment the symptoms of OCD. Symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a type of anxiety disorder which is diagnosed in 2-3 percent of adult population on the planet. The most obvious symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder can be logically divided between compulsive behavior and obsessive ideas and thoughts. Patients with OCD often have daily rituals such as washing hands for several times an hour in order to prevent infection or arranging things symmetrically. Patients also can check something permanently or count in any stressful situation. Inability to perform these rituals makes a patient feel uncomfortable and anxious. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder can even feel that some catastrophe can happen if they fail to perform their daily rituals (Jenkie, 2004). Additionally patients with OCD are affected by intrusive and recurrent thoughts, images, feelings which they cannot avoid and which become obsessive if patients do not perform any of their rituals (Bystritsky, 2004) OCD is a severe chronic impairment which affects people of different age, gender, and social status preventing them from working and leading a normal social life. On average people between 22 and 36 are most often diagnosed with OCD, however it takes several years to determine the right disease for sometimes doctors fail to recognize the symptoms of OSD as most patients do not indicate them out of shame and lack of knowledge (Bystritsky, 2004). Osgod-Hynes distinguishes another serious symptom of OCD that can help to recognize the disorder - sexual thoughts (2006). The difference between normal people having sexual fantasies and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder is frequency and intensity of these ideas. People with OCD feel stressed and anxious because of repetitive sexual images which are often connected with taboo topics and sometimes involve children, religious images, homosexuality, sadism or masochism. As thoughts and images usually appear in inappropriate time OCD patients have tendency to engage in avoidance while it only increases the probability of repetition. Such sexual obsessions bring a lot of troubles to the OCD patients who cannot get rid of them easily and are prone to repeat them. This eventually results in feelings of fear, shame, and guilt (Osgood-Hynes, 2006). Some patients suffering from OCD may experience problems with sleep and drugs addiction so it is necessary to pay attention to these factors as well. Some researchers are prone to connect drugs abuse to OCD as drugs serve as to way to cope with anxiety, however, they only create close circle of dependence (Jenkie, 2004). The threat of OCD is that it is often misdiagnosed or neglected. People close to the patients with OCD can be irritated and frustrated, and the patient himself cannot be aware that his anxiety, fear, and compulsive rituals have medical explanation. Moreover, patients can keep their strange habits in secret or many of them cannot be subjected to adequate psychological consultation. However, for most anxiety disorders early treatment is a half of success while neglect often results in higher risks of chronic depression, social and employment problems, difficulties with forming relationships (Goodman, McDougle, and Price, 1992). Causes of obsessive-compulsive disorder According to Bystritsky, OCD stems from strong initial fear or increasing anxiety. A patient aims reducing this anxiety by analyzing the problem; however, due to special OCD thinking patterns he is unable to resolve it himself. Obsessive thoughts become more and more intrusive and the person has to use other mechanisms to cope with them, such as compulsive rituals. For example, OCD patients are usually obsessed with the idea of germs and in order to cope with the anxiety and fear of contamination they start cleaning their hands or their flat endlessly (2004). Since this obviously does not give them relaxation and confidence that the problem is solved, they keep repeating these patterns retriggering fears and anxiety. It is only possible to prove the people suffering from OCD logically that fears do not have serious grounding and are caused by obsessive thoughts. Concomitant diseases In many cases OCD is accompanied by other psychological disorders, such as bipolar disorder or depressive disorder. Sometimes OCD can be caused be the result of post-traumatic stress disorder, which has to be taken into account during diagnostics. Patients with OCD are often misdiagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and dermatillomania so learning about the patient`s symptoms and possible reasons of the disorder is an important step for the whole treatment (Goodman et al., 1992). Scientists are unable to distinguish the exact problem causing OCD today and explain the impairment with various theories. According to some research the disorder has genetic nature as the probability of the diseases increases for first-degree patients with OCD. There is also high probability of transmission of OCD genetically. Sometimes OCD can be caused by such diseases as encephalitis, a streptococcal infection, striatal lesions (congenital or acquired). In some cases serious traumas can also provoke OCD (Jenkie, 2004). However, many researches find connection between OCD and neurological problems such as abnormalities in grey and white matters. There is some evidence that patients with OCD show difference in brain activity compared to healthy people. There is some evidence that abnormalities in amygdala, cortico-stirato-thalamic-cortical circuits responsible for specific cognitive processes and emotions regulation can be the reason of OCD (Saxena et al., 2000). According to Saxena et al., neurochemistry abnormalities of OCD can also be a probable reason of OCD. Scientists link OCD with serotonin receptors as patients who took serotonin reuptake inhibitor had normal behavioral and neuroendocrine. Dopamine is another neurotransmitter that is responsible for obsessive-compulsive symptoms. People start experiencing OCD symptoms if special balance between these two neurotransmitters is violated (2000). Treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder Treatment of patients suffering from OCD consists of several approaches. First of all such patients require counseling which is most often takes forms of cognitive and behavioral therapy. Serotonin-reputable inhibiters are regarded as the most effective medical therapy aiming to restore natural balance between these two neurotransmitters. In some serious cases even neurosurgery is possible. Behavioral therapy presupposes exposure to the annoying repetitive rituals for their further responses prevention. This type of therapy is proven to be effective in combination with cognitive therapy when patient`s obsessive ideas are challenged. A patient has to expose himself to the situations in which he feels anxious, such as when he touches contaminated objects or locks the door and instead of repeating these rituals, the person prevents himself from washing and checking. Soon enough he becomes habituated to this and the level of anxiety decreases (Hupert &Roth, 2003). First of all the patient creates the list of his obsessions rating them from the most anxiety-provoking to the least. Further the patient moves from the least anxiety-provoking things to the most coping with arising feelings gradually. Research has some evidence that cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective is sometimes regarded as even more effective that medication therapy but is often used in combination. The symptoms are at least slightly improved for 85 percent of participant in the trial sessions, and are improved for a half of participants significantly. For many patients group therapy proves to be effective as much as individual therapy less affordable for many patients (Jenkie, 2004). Medication therapy also proves to be effective for the patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Serotonin-reuptake inhibitors showed the biggest efficacy. Nowadays such selective SRIs as Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, Zoloft, and Celexa are most often used for OCD treatment. In the majority of trials from 40 to 60 % of OCD patients felt improvement after serotonin-reuptake therapy. There is no evidence that the symptoms disappear completely as most of them have some residual symptoms. Thus, combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy along with medication gives promising results for obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment. References Bystritsky, A. (2004). Current pharmacological treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Goodman ,W., McDougle, C., & Price, P. (1992).Pharmacotherapy of obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 53, 29-37 Huppert & Roth: (2003) Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder with Exposure and Response Prevention. The Behavior Analyst Today, 4 (1), 66 – 70 Jenkie, M. (2004). Obsessive-compulsive disorder. The New England Journal of Medicine, 350, 259-265. Osgood-Hynes, D. (2006). Thinking Bad Thoughts .MGH/McLean OCD Institute Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.raminader.com/PDFs%20Uploaded/OCD%20-%20Thinking%20Bad%20Thoughts.pdf Saxena, S., Rauch, S. (2000). Functional neuroimaging and the neuroanatomy of obsessive-compulsive disorder Psychiatry Clin. North America, 23(3), 563–586. Read More