Cristina Covarrubias (#10) Evelyn Salazar (#9) Period-3

DefinitionSymptoms  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is the mental disorder of striving for too much success. Perfection is the ultimate goal of the OCD person, and failure is seen as earth shattering. OCD is the disorder that, on the outside, seems useful. A drive to succeed is very appealing, but OCD pushes it past the line of success and into the realm of isolation, anxiety and depression.  Maintain "efficiency," but instead only succeed in making the task more difficult.  Puts work before personal relationships or leisure time.  Hoarding with no traceable cause or sentiment was at one time thought to be a key symptom.  Controlling, and has a feeling of superior competence comparing him or herself to others.  He or she will entrust tasks to others only under extreme caution, and have strict instructions as to how they are to be carried out.  Save money and be stringy.  General rigidity and stubbornness  Justify actions instead of admitting any sort of problem, because in the person's mind he or she is right.

 Jane was a 31-year-old teacher who lived with her husband in Cambridgeshire.  Had obsessive-compulsive disorder for six years. It had developed suddenly, rapidly intensifying to a point where it devastated both her and her husband's life.  She had failed to respond to medication, hypnotherapy or protracted individual and group psychotherapy.  'I have always been a worrier, but it did not start to ruin my life until seven years ago.  'The first attack occurred during a children's' church service.  I joked to Joe about one of the children present. It was not nasty, but it started to play on my mind.  I became anxious that the child's parents sitting nearby had heard me and misinterpreted it.

 My thoughts rapidly expanded. The parents would be annoyed and report me. I would be reprimanded and dismissed from the school. The story would be in national newspapers. I might be sent to prison.  From then on I monitored my speech carefully, being unable to converse unless I was at home with the windows shut.  My problems started with panic leading to avoidance, checking and rituals, to stop the situation recurring.  'I became obsessed with dirt and cleanliness. I -washed my hands 100 times a day as indicated by my bleeding knuckles.  I washed 40 tea towels at a time, I thought lice were living on my body, and itching reinforced my fear.  I examined the bed at night, making sure there' were no insects.  I wanted to wash anything I touched.

 According to cognitive-behavioral theories of OCD, if you are vulnerable to OCD you are unable to ignore these thoughts. In addition, you may feel that you should be able to control these thoughts and that these thoughts are dangerous. Being trapped in this cycle can make it difficult -– if not impossible -– to focus on anything else besides the distressing thoughts and an obsession is born. Compulsions such as hand-washing may be a learned process. -For example: In response to feeling contamination, you might wash your hands. This reduces your anxiety which feels good and in turn reinforces the hand-washing behavior.

 According to the Biological theory, OCD causes have focused on a circuit in the brain which regulates primitive aspects of our behavior such as aggression, sexuality, and bodily excretions. It has been suggested that if you have OCD, your brain has difficulty turning off or ignoring impulses from this circuit. This, in turn, causes repetitive behaviors called compulsions and/or uncontrollable thoughts called obsessions. -For example: Your brain may have trouble turning off thoughts of contamination after leaving the restroom, leading you to wash your hands again and again.

 Psychodynamic theories of OCD stress that obsessions and compulsions are signs of unconscious conflict that you might be trying to suppress, resolve or cope with. These conflicts arise when an unconscious wish is at odds with socially acceptable behavior.  It has been suggested that when these conflicts are extremely repulsive or distressing, you can only deal with them indirectly by transferring the conflict to something more manageable such as hand-washing, checking or ordering.

 The two main treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder are:  Psychotherapy  Medications -Antidepressants: -Prozac -Zoloft  Which option is best for you depends on your personal situation and preferences. Often, treatment is most effective with a combination of medications and psychotherapy.

 Leonardo DiCaprio: DiCaprio has admitted to struggling with OCD, citing gum stains on the sidewalk and doorways as triggers.  David Beckham: Beckham explains, ''I've got this obsessive compulsive disorder where I have to have everything in a straight line or everything has to be in pairs.  Donald Trump - Has a germ phobia that makes him afraid to shake hands. He confesses he has borderline obsessive compulsive disorder and is terrified of germs. The star refuses to touch the ground floor button of a lift and avoids shaking hands with people - especially teachers.  About 2% of the U.S. population has OCD in a given year.  OCD cost the U.S. $8.4 billion in 1990 in social and economic losses, nearly 6% of the total mental health bill of $148 billion

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