Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Its Symptoms, Causes And Treatment
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (or OCD) is one of anxiety disorders characterized by persistent, distressing actions and/ or thoughts. People feel driven to do something repeatedly by recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or obsessions. In this paper, I will introduce OCD, its symptoms, and the prevalence of OCD in the United States. I will also introduce some present information of the possible causes of OCD, and the most used psychological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a group of neuropsychiatric diseases with forced thinking and compulsive behavior as the main clinical manifestations. It is characterized by conscious coercion and anti-coercion, some meaningless and even contrary to oneself. The willingness or impulse to invade the patient's daily life. People who have obsessive-compulsive disorder can have obsessive thoughts, compulsive, and repetitive behaviors. Although patients experience these thoughts or impulses from their own, but they are always uncontrollable. The strong conflict between them makes them feel great anxiety and pain, affecting study and work, interpersonal relationships and even daily life.
The symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder can be mainly classified into forced thinking and compulsive behavior. Forced thinking can be divided into obsessive attitudes, forced emotions and forced intentions. There are many kinds of contents, such as repeatedly wondering whether the doors and windows are tight, whether it will get sick when it comes to dirty things and so on. Forced behavior is often used to alleviate the anxiety caused by forced thinking. The patient knows that it is unreasonable, but he has to do it. For example, if the patient has doubts about whether the door and window are tight, the corresponding door and window will be checked repeatedly to ensure safety. Patients who are sick and afraid of getting sick will wash their hands repeatedly to keep them clean. Some patients with prolonged illnesses often repeat certain actions, and some procedures have been formed over time. For example, when washing hands, they must start washing from the fingertips and wash them continuously to the wrist. If the order is reversed or the middle is interrupted, it is necessary to restart.
Patients have several characteristics. First, it is the patient's own thinking or impulse, not imposed by the outside world. Second, at least one thought or action must still be vainly resisted by the patient, even if the patient no longer resists other symptoms. Third, the idea of implementing an action itself can make the patient feel uncomfortable, but if it is not implemented, it will cause great anxiety. Fourth, ideas or impulses are always repetitively repeated. Diagnosis should be based on medical history, mental examination, physical examination and necessary supplementary examination to rule out obsessive-compulsive symptoms caused by organic diseases and other mental illnesses. For the diagnosis of the disease, a positive diagnosis must be made. The patient must have forced thinking or compulsive behavior for most of the two consecutive weeks, or both. These symptoms cause pain or hinder activity. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms need to meet the four characteristics of clinical manifestations.
First of all, we need to identify normal repetitive behaviors. Almost everyone will have some repetitive behaviors or actions in a given order. For example, before leaving home, they will repeatedly pull the door two or three times to ensure that the door is closed. Brushing the teeth will always be done by first holding the cup with the left hand. Then take the toothbrush with your right hand and then squeeze the toothpaste with your left hand. Patients with definite obsessive-compulsive symptoms need to be differentiated from schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, and drug-induced obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
The causes of obsessive-compulsive disorder are complex and inconclusive. It is currently believed to be mainly related to psychosocial, personality, genetic and neurological factors.
Many studies have shown that patients often suffer from some unhealthy life events when they first become ill, such as interpersonal tensions, trials in marriage, frustration in learning, and so on. The personality of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder has more or less the tendency to pursue perfection and strict requirements for themselves and others. Some patients have obsessive-compulsive personality before the illness, which is characterized by excessive cautiousness, strong sense of responsibility, and hope that everything can be perfect. Therefore, it lacks flexibility in dealing with adverse life events and is difficult to adapt. The contradictions and anxieties experienced by the patient can only be expressed through compulsive symptoms.
There are three way of treatments: psychotherapy, medical treatment, and physical therapy. First of all, psychotherapy. As a mental illness, obsessive-compulsive disorder has a very complicated mechanism, and the psychological mechanism of patients with similar symptoms may vary widely. In psychotherapy, the therapist establishes a good doctor-patient relationship with the patient, listens to the patient, helps them discover and analyze the inner conflicts, promotes the patient to solve the problem, increases their ability to adapt to the environment, and reshapes the healthy personality.
Second, medical treatment. The onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder is related to the imbalance of various neurotransmitters in the brain, mainly manifested by the disorder of serotonin system function. The anti-obsessed drugs currently used are antidepressants, which are characterized by the ability to regulate the function of neurotransmitters such as serotonin in the brain, thereby improving the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The most used are mainly selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSTIs). Third, physical therapy. For patients with refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder, modified electroconvulsive and magnetic stimulation can be selectively used according to specific conditions. Neurosurgery is regarded as the last choice for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Because of its adverse reactions such as seizures and loss of sensation, surgical indications must be strictly controlled.
