What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a type of anxiety disorder in which time-consuming obsessions and compulsions significantly interfere with a person's routine, making it difficult to work or to have a normal social life or relationships. At some point in the course of the disorder, the person realizes that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable.

Obsessions are recurrent, persistent, intrusive, unwanted thoughts that cause distressing emotions such as anxiety and disgust. Many such thoughts center on fears, such as fear of catching or spreading germs and fear of suffering bodily harm or of hurting others.

People who experience these strong obsessions recognize that the thoughts are a product of their own mind and are excessive or unreasonable. But they cannot rid themselves of these thoughts by logic or reasoning. Often, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) find that certain behaviors or rituals reduce their fear and discomfort, and so they feel compelled to repeat them.

Compulsions are urges to do something repeatedly that will lessen
a fearful thought or the discomfort it produces. Rituals are the behaviors people rigidly employ to reduce the tension of a compulsion. In the most severe cases, a constant repetition of rituals may fill the day, making a normal routine impossible. Compulsions include:

Cleaning: Provoked by the fear that real or imagined germs, dirt, or chemicals will "contaminate" them. Some people spend hours and hours washing themselves or cleaning their surroundings.

Repeating: To dispel anxiety, some people repeatedly utter a name or phrase or perform a behavior several times. Although they understand that the repetitions won’t actually guard against injury, their fear that they will be harmed if they don’t repeat the behavior compels them to act.

Completing: People with this compulsion must perform a series of complicated behaviors in an exact order, repeating them until they are done perfectly.

Checking: The fear of harming oneself or others by forgetting to lock the door or turn off appliances can develop into the ritual of checking. Some people repeatedly retrace routes they drive to be sure they haven’t hit anyone or caused any accidents.

Hoarding: Hoarding involves the collection of useless items. People who hoard may collect anything—newspapers, clothing, stones, garbage—to the point that rooms are filled, doorways are blocked, and health hazards occur.

How is OCD Treated?

Obtaining treatment is critical because OCD rarely resolves on its own. Many people suffer for years before getting help.

Behavior therapies are intended to help people decrease and ultimately stop the obsessions and compulsions that plague their lives. Various studies indicate that behavioral therapy is successful for 50 to 90 percent of people with OCD.

One of the most effective treatments is a type of behavioral therapy known as exposure and response prevention. During treatment sessions, patients are slowly exposed to the situations that give rise to their anxiety and that provoke compulsive behavior or rituals. A client may also follow guidelines, sometimes in the form of an agreement between the therapist and the client. For example, the guidelines may permit the client to perform only a part of a ritualistic behavior and may limit the number of repetitions.

Psychotherapy, group therapy, and family therapy have been helpful for some people, especially when combined with medication and behavioral techniques.

Medication. For many years clomipramine, was the best-recognized and most studied pharmacotherapy for OCD for many years. However, the introduction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), has added substantially to the effective treatment of this disorder. For some people who have only a partial response to an SSRI, combining an SSRI with another medication can improve symptoms.