Tuesday 3 December 2013

Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder-Know its Signs, Categories and Treatment options

Treatments for anxiety and depression have been in existence for several centuries. Anxiety is not a new phenomenon and has existed ever since the birth of the human race. However, its magnitude has increased in recent times owing to modern lifestyle and the need to maintain lifestyle standards in the society. It is no surprise that the percentage of population experiencing stress and undergoing depression is increasing rapidly and the onset of such illnesses is as early as childhood. The need to be perfect and low tolerance has contributed to several phobias and obsessive disorders. The more popular of them all is the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD.

It may be normal for all humans to check twice if the lights are turned off or the car is locked but in the case of OCD, these thoughts and actions become so excessive that they gradually begin to knock your regular routine down. Despite the reality check you do on yourself, it becomes difficult to cut down on those thoughts and break free from the irrational urges. Gaining control of even one task may become the single most objective every day.

What is OCD?

Treatments for Anxiety and DepressionObsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD is treated in every professional center for anxiety attack treatment in California and numerous other cities. This is a specific kind of anxiety disorder that is accompanied by uncontrollable urges to repetitively indulge in behaviors that become ritualized in every sense of the word. An individual with OCD may even understand his or her irrational behavior and recognize those unwanted repetitive acts but find it difficult not to do so. In OCD, the brain gets stuck to a particular thought or thought pattern and refuses to budge. Checking the stove at least 25 times to see if its turned off or washing your hands and legs over and over again until skin feels raw are some examples of OCD.

Categories of OCD

Most individuals with OCD can be categorized under one of these classifications.
  • Washers: Often afraid of contamination, the washers are the ones that regularly clean or wash their hands and legs fearing germ attack or just about contamination of any kind.
  • Checkers: This is one of the more popular kinds. Checkers are engulfed by the urge to check on things repetitively to eliminate chances of danger.
  • Doubters and Sinners: Individuals who constantly fear that they are wrong-doers and are likely to be punished for their sins form this category.   
  • Hoarders: These are the individuals that do not discard or throw away anything thinking that something bad can happen if they do so.
  • Counters and Arrangers: Some individuals are obsessed with order, numbers, colors, arrangement or symmetry and just about everything must fall into a specific order for them.

As part of treatments for anxiety and depression, Cognitive behavior therapy has emerged as one of the more successful techniques. Repeated exposure to the source of obsession and identifying efficient ways to respond to such obsessive thoughts are the focus elements of this kind of therapy.


Lucinda Bassett on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder



Center for cognitive therapy
Attacking Anxiety and Depression

1 comment:

  1. You train the subconscious to give up it's secrets. Read the patients thought pattern aloud as they free associate, in brief word groups. Spread it out over the course of three and a half months till they act out the repressed experience(s) and relate it to you. Get them to face it so you can reverse it. Make sure they follow through or they could end up in worse shape like me. Learn more at schizophreniarepressioncured.blogspot.com (Oct. 24, 2016 post) Yes I had OCD. I care, thank you.







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