Definition:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a psychiatric anxiety disorder. Individuals with this disorder have thoughts that are obsessive, distressing, intrusive, related with compulsions to neutralize their obsessions.
Diagnosis:
Mental health professionals diagnose an individual as having an obsessive-compulsive disorder when the person exhibits either obsessions or compulsions or both. During episodes of OCD, obsessions are recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that cause distress or anxiety to an individual. These obsessions are neutralized or suppressed by the individual through a thought or an action. They behave or act irrationally in response to their obsessions.
Treatment:
At present, OCD cannot be cured, but options for successful treatment are available. OCD patients are first treated with behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, medications, or any of their combination. Some aspects of their disorder may be managed by psychodynamic psychotherapy, but studies have not yet ascertained its effectiveness.
Symptoms and Signs:
Individuals with OCD exhibit a variety of symptoms such as repeatedly washing the hands, fearing contamination through possible contact of saliva, blood, tears, and other human secretions or excretions, needing to feel even on both sides of the body or feeling things to be uneven and favoring the preferred side of the body. These individuals knowingly comply with their irrational thought and behaviors to avoid panic or dread in a certain situation.
Causes:
Two groups of researchers disagree on the cause of OCD, one believes it is a psychological disorder, the other thinks OCD has a neurological origin. The latter is believed by a majority. Although the causes of the disorder is not yet ascertained, it is recently identified that OCD in some children is due to an autoimmune response to Group A streptococcal infection.
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obsessivecompulsivedisorder
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