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OBSESSIVE BEHAVIOR

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the Behaviors that Drive It Clinton W. Wilkinson Salt Lake Community College Psychology 1010 038 Instructor: Chandra Fenwick

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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a commonly misunderstood disorder. Most people think that if they do something in a particular way all the time, then they are suffering from OCD with respect to that task or activity. According to the textbook, Introducing Psychology, obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disorder in which repetitive, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) designed to fend off those thoughts interfere significantly with an individuals functioning (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2011). I have many different habits and behaviors, things that I prefer to do a certain way. It isnt that I absolutely have to do things a certain way, but rather that I prefer to do things in a certain way. I was taught that if I am going to do something, I am going to do it right. Am I suffering in some degree from OCD, or was I just taught to be thorough when approaching any task or activity. Am I obsessive in the things that I do, or was I just taught from a very early age to be methodical in completing tasks? This got me to thinking about my habits. I started to wonder about what makes one person obsessive compulsive, while another is just a focused, detail oriented person. Does a person have to have both obsessive tendencies and compulsions in order to suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder? Do your actions have to be destructive, or repetitive, or excessive to be categorized as obsessive-compulsive? When I found out that we would be choosing our own topics to research and write about in psychology, I immediately knew that I wanted to learn more about obsessivecompulsive disorder (OCD). I decided to look into how OCD is diagnosed, how it affects the lives of those who have it and also, the various forms of severity. By doing so I hoped to discover if and to what extent OCD affects my life. How is obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnosed? That is the first question that I needed to know in order to progress and understand OCD as a disorder, and as a struggle in the life of someone who suffers from it. According to the Stanford school of medicine, To be considered

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clinically significant, the obsessions or compulsions must cause significant distress or interfere with the person's social or role functioning and must occupy more than an hour per day (Stanford School of Medicine: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2012). This is only a general guideline designed to create awareness of a persons potential to be afflicted with OCD. The actual method for diagnosing both OCD and the extent to which a person is afflicted with OCD is by using self-measuring instruments, which are more commonly known as evaluations or surveys. These surveys take into account five different categories for rating. There is a range of various different surveys out there but the categories remain the same throughout each. They are: time spent or occupied, interference with functioning or relationships, degree of distress, resistance, and control (i.e. success in resistance) (Stanford School of Medicine: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2012). A subject is asked to rate themselves in each of these areas a numerical scale. Generally, the higher the score, the more severe the subjects case of OCD and the greater the levels of anxiety that are produced. Now that I know how OCD is diagnosed, it is time to learn about the obsessive tendencies that lead to compulsions. According to the Stanford School of Medicine: The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (Fourth Edition) describes obsessions as recurrent, persistent ideas, thoughts, images or impulses that are experienced at some time during the illness as ego-dystonic, i.e., intrusive, senseless, excessive, repugnant, or absurd (Stanford School of Medicine: ObsessiveCompulsive and Related Disorders, 2012).

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Simply stated, this means that an obsession is something that you cant get out of your head that doesnt make logical sense, and distracts you from functioning in your day to day life. The four most common symptom dimensions are: (a) contamination, (b) responsibility for harm, (c) unacceptable thoughts, and (d) asymmetry or ordering (Viar, Bilsky, Armstrong, & Olatunji, 2011). In obsessions with contamination, people often have irrational fear of becoming contaminated by germs and parasites. In cases of obsessions where a person feels they are responsible for harm either to themselves or others, it means they feel that if they either do or do not do something, the result will be harm coming upon someone they love. Unacceptable thoughts are thoughts and feelings that a person should be able to control a situation or even their own thoughts. Finally, obsession with ordering is a need for things to be in order. Everything must be in its proper place. The results of each of these obsessions are the generation of anxiety proportional to the severity of the obsession. The reason that obsessive-compulsive disorder is so named is because the sufferer turns to various compulsions to help alleviate the anxiety produced from the obsession. The object of the compulsion portion of OCD is to help the sufferer to deal with the stress that is produced when they become consumed by their obsession. Compulsions are repetitive, seemingly purposeful behaviors or mental acts performed according to rigid rules (Stanford School of Medicine: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2012). The compulsion that each person engages in is different. The one thing that is constant about compulsions is that they overwhelmingly fit the obsession. A metaphorical way to look at this would be to say that the punishment fits the crime. For example, a man suffering from an obsession with contamination

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would most likely have a compulsion to wash themselves frequently and repeatedly. They most likely would not have a compulsion to put things in their proper order. Just the opposite, they would probably develop great anxiety if they were told that they had to touch and place everything in order. Compulsions can range from mild to severe. Continuing with the contamination example, mild might be washing your hands many times to ensure they are clean, whereas a severe case might be scrubbing your body with steel wool and rinsing your body with ammonia. There isnt necessarily a correlation though between how severe the obsession is to how severe the compulsion is. Logic dictates that if the obsession is severe the compulsion will match it in severity. However, it is also possible to have a mild obsession, which is dealt with by a severe compulsion response. Now that I have addressed and understand both obsession and compulsion, I can begin to understand how they play into both the potential severity of OCD, as well as the development of comorbidities. Comorbidity is The co-occurrence of two or more disorders in a single individual (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2011). It is also relatively common as well. For people that suffer with OCD, the additional disorder is commonly depression. OCD most especially in its severe forms tends to be destructive to the sufferers life and relationships. In addition to the anxiety caused by the obsession, there is now additional anxiety produced when the quality of the sufferers life is degraded. The result is an emotional tailspin that results in the development of depression. According to the Stanford School of Medicine, Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by obsessions or compulsions or both (Stanford School of Medicine: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2012). In other word, you dont have to have both

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an obsession and a compulsion to suffer from some form of OCD. If, however, you only have one or the other, it is probable that your case of OCD will be a very mild case. I learned a great deal about OCD in researching and writing this paper. I learned that even though I prefer to be thorough and specific when completing tasks, there is no significant impact to my relationships or my life. So in all likelihood, I do not have even a mild case of OCD. I am sure that I will still affectionately albeit incorrectly refer to my specific habits as OCD. I did learn though, that real OCD is no laughing matter. It destroys the lives of those afflicted with it, and I will show it more respect in the future than I heretofore have thus far. I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to broaden my horizons and answer my own questions regarding OCD.

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Works Cited
Stanford School of Medicine: Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. (2012, April 17). Retrieved from Stanford School of Medicine: http://ocd.stanford.edu/about/diagnosis.html Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M. (2011). Introducing Psychology. New York, New York, United States of America: Worth Publishers. Viar, M. A., Bilsky, S. A., Armstrong, T., & Olatunji, B. O. (2011, March 10). Obsessive Beliefs and Dimensions of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: An Examination of Specific Associations. doi:10.1007/s10608-011-9360-4

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