Psychopathology

OCD

An anxiety disorder where suffers experience persistant, intrusive thoughts occuring in obsessions, complusions or both.

Obesessions: What people think

Compulsions: Actions that result in obsessions.

Example of Obsessions: Convinced germs are everywhere which lead to extream anxiety.

Example of Compulsions: Uncontrollable urges to repeatedly perform tasks and behaviours such as washing hands to remove germs.

Behavioural Characteristics

• Excessive repetitive behaviours to reduce anxiety (hand washing, cleaning or checking).
• Counting, tapping or repeating certain words to reduce anxiety
• Spending a lot of time washing, cleaning or checking
• Demanding reassurances
• Excesive double checking of things (checking locks, appliences and swicthes)
• Repeatedly checking family and friends
• Spending lots of time making sure 'things are just so'

Emotional Characteristics

• Distress and anxiety about being prevented from performing rituals
• Overwhelming fear of being contaminated or fear causing harm to themselves or others
• Intense distress when objects are not orderly or facing the right way
• Doubts having checked/performed compulsions
• Depression- low mood and lack of enjoyment
• Irrational guilt and disgust

Cognitive Characteristics

• Obsessive, irrational and innapropriate thoughts/images e.g worries of being contaminated by dirt and germs
• Catastrophic thinking
• Performing mental acts such as praying or counting
• Tendancy to overestimate the liklihood of danger
• Hypervigilant- maintain constant alertness ad attention focused on hazards

Other Factors

• Is an anxiety disorder
• Obsessions (which are internal intrusive cognitive thoughts) lead to complusions ( which are external behavioural actions)
• OCD affects 2-2.5% of the population, male and female both affected equally
• A person must feel driven to perform these complusions on most days for a period of two weeks or more.