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What does OCD look like? If you've seen the movie "The Day of the Freak" with Marek Kondrat in the lead role, you already know what the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder look like. But did you know that you can win against this disease and regain the joy of life?

Obsessive-compulsive disorderis the common name for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The image of OCD consists of two elements.

The first of them are obsessions - intrusive thoughts, images and ideas that suddenly burst into consciousness, causing anxiety and malaise. Patients realize that they are a product of their mind.

The second one is compulsions - repetitive compulsive actions to reduce anxiety. They are designed to prevent "dangerous" situations with which they are not always logically related. They often take the form of a ritual, i.e. a sequence of activities performed according to a specific pattern.

Contents:

    1. Criteria for the diagnosis of OCD
    2. Symptoms of OCD
    3. Tiring OCD Disorder
    4. Compulsive treatment
    5. Scientists on OCD

Criteria for the diagnosis of OCD

OCD has 90 percent. our population. Probably more than one person has come home, for example, because it suddenly occurred to her that she did not turn off the iron or closed the door.

However, such behavior does not always indicate OCD, although there is a characteristic mechanism for it: first an intrusive thought, then an activity that relieves nervous tension.

We can talk about OCD when the symptoms worsen to such an extent that they significantly impair functioning and consume more than an hour a day. There are no such consequences, for example, even moving the door handle every day to make sure that the door is closed or touching the stove taps.

But repeatedly checking before leaving the house if windows, taps, gas taps, doors are closed, or the inability to focus on e.g. professional duties due to intrusive thoughts and compulsions - they are very disturbing in everyday life.

Read: Anxiety Neurosis: Symptoms. Are you afraid of something or do you already have anxiety neurosis?

Symptoms of OCD

People suffering from OCD say that they live in constant fear because of their intrusive thoughts. How is this possible when no emotion lasts forever? We can notbe happy or scared 24/7 because many things distract us.

Well, each of us deals with anxiety differently. Some people suppress it by taking care of current affairs. Others cry, scream or act aggressively. On the other hand, patients suffering from OCD relieve tension using compulsions.

Lowering the level of anxiety after performing a certain activity is like a reward for them. And any behavior that is rewarded will repeat itself more often. So they wind up a spiral of fear themselves. They multiply and develop rituals. They build a vicious circle of intrusive thoughts and actions, from which they cannot get out.

Tiring OCD Disorder

There is no limit to both the content of intrusive thoughts and actions. The most common are intrusive thoughts related to the issues of cleanliness, the compulsion of order and symmetry, multiple checking if the doors, windows are closed, the iron is turned off, etc., repeating the activity a certain number of times or until it is made sure that it has been perfectly performed, the compulsion to collect worthless things, thoughts and ideas about aggressive topics.

Not all compulsions are explicit. Some take the form of mental rituals that take place in your mind, such as repeating a prayer, words, counting. People suffering from OCD often try to hide their disease from others because of shame.

People who suffer from OCD know that their fears are irrational and the activities that silence them are simply stupid. Therefore, when they are away from home, they often control themselves so that the people around them do not notice their bizarre behavior.

Important

The symptoms of OCD usually appear between the ages of 7 and 13, or between the ages of 20 and 25. Among children, it is more common in boys, and among adults - in women. The disease varies in severity. Long periods of remission, even several years, may occur.

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Compulsive treatment

OCD can be treated in two ways. They are usually used together. The first is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It consists in gradual desensitization of the patient to anxiety-generating stimuli. It teaches him to refrain from performing forced actions.

When the patient manages to abandon them for the first time, they begin to understand that anxiety calms down by itself without compulsions, and that their omission has no consequences. There is no catastrophe. The world stands as it stood.

Since OCD patients are very responsible people, striving for perfection in action, the goal of cognitive-behavioral therapy is alsomaking them realize that they do not have to control themselves so strongly, that they demand too much of themselves. It also allows them to understand that we almost all have obsessive-compulsive symptoms, so it is impossible to completely eliminate them from life.

Pharmacological agents are also often used in treatment, mainly drugs from the group of serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Their effectiveness is very high, on the order of 70-80%, but they only work symptomatically. After discontinuation of medication, in most cases the disease returns after some time if patients do not receive cognitive behavioral therapy.

Therefore, they absolutely should be referred to her by a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, he often only gives him a prescription for drugs. Meanwhile, the simultaneous use of both methods provides a greater chance of success in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders and to break free from the vicious circle of obsessions over time.

Scientists on OCD

It was once believed that their causes lie solely in the psyche. Today we know that biological factors are also important. Consequently, the name "obsessive compulsive disorder" has been changed to "obsessive-compulsive disorder". This condition may have a genetic background, as it sometimes runs in families.

Its development is also influenced by the specific functioning of the basal ganglia connections with the frontal cortex and specific hypersensitivity to endogenous serotonin. Some forms of OCD are not related to psychogenic factors at all.

Occasionally, they are a consequence of allergy developing after angina induced by group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus (the same mechanism as in rheumatic fever).

Read also: Neurosis - types of neuroses

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Category:

Psychiatry