Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD Obsession control in avoidance behaviour, urges repeated thoughts & actions in OCD, repeated words and counting in OCD, anxiety stress and symptoms in obsession compulsive disorder.jpg

Obsessions are thoughts, urges or images that are felt as intrusive and unwanted, which cause the individual marked distress.

The individual respond with devoting considerable time on compulsions, such as repetitive acts (eg. washing, ordering, repeating words, counting, checking, praying).

 

The prevalence of OCD is estimated to be about 1.2% in U.S. and 1.1-1.8% worldwide (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). OCD onset is higher among individuals in the age range of 18-29 than all other age groups and chances of onset declines as age increases, whereas significantly more women than men are affected (ratio 2:1) by the disorder (Ruscio, Stein, Chiu & Kessler, 2010).

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterised by persistent and recurrent obsessions to which the individual respond with effort to ignore, suppress or neutralise them with other thoughts or actions (compulsions).

Obsessions are thoughts, urges or images that are felt as intrusive and unwanted, which cause the individual marked distress. The individual respond with devoting considerable time on compulsions, such as repetitive acts (eg. washing, ordering, repeating words, counting, checking, praying) in order to reduce anxiety, whereas these behaviours are not realistically connected to the nature of the external or internal situation to be avoided/neutralised or they are markedly excessive.

Assessment of symptoms and diagnosis of OCD require mental health clinical expertise. Depending on the severity of the disorder and patient’s responsiveness to therapy, treatment involves psychological interventions of low to high intensity and possibly pharmacotherapy. Apostolia Alizioti, B.Sc. (Psychol), M.Sc. (Health Psychol), M.B.A., GBC member of the British Psychological Society.

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References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical 
manual of mental disorders (5th ed.) Washington, DC; London, England: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Ruscio, A. M., Stein, D. J., Chiu, W. T. & Kessler, R. C. (2010). The epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the national comorbidity survey replication. Molecular Psychiatry, 15(1), pp. 53–63. doi:10.1038/mp.2008.94

 
 

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