...Essay Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Do We Choose Or Are We Programmed? Sometimes I ask myself, “Where did my OCD Come From?” or, I have a mental breakdown and ask myself, “What am I doing?” Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is unwanted repetitive behaviours and thoughts that torture about 2% of the population (HealthProfs.com, 2014). Some people are convinced that this behaviour is a choice, and that people with OCD are pretending because they want attention. Although researchers don’t know exactly what causes OCD, they know it’s real, and research is proving that people are subconsciously programmed and nurtured into this behaviour through biology, family history, and life experiences (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2014). Biological factors relating to the possible causes of OCD are an area of considerable research and theory, and it suggests that the brain of a person with OCD has irregular interactions, which makes them have uncontrollable repetitive behaviours and thoughts (HealthProfs.com, 2014). Biological causes of OCD have focused on a circuit in the brain which regulates primitive aspects of our behaviour such as aggression, sexuality, and bodily excretions (OCD-UK, 2013). When this circuit becomes activated, certain impulses are brought to your attention and cause you to perform a particular behaviour that appropriately addresses the impulse (OCD-UK, 2013). Abnormalities and imbalances in serotonin could also be to blame, because serotonin regulates everything...
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...like thousands of other medical problems that affect us today, it’s important for the public to be informed about the disorder in order to better understand those that suffer from it. c. Credibility: Though I do not personally suffer from OCD, I have met people who do. I do, however, believe that everyone has something in his/her life that requires repetition until perfection. For instance, when I draw or create artwork, it has to be perfect down to the last pencil, pen, crayon, paint, or charcoal mark. If even one thing is out of place, it will bother me and I will constantly dwell on it until it is fixed. This is not truly a form of OCD, but it does give me a taste of what those who suffer from OCD go through on a smaller basis. d. Thesis: In my speech I will talk about the various symptoms and signs that can be used to identify OCD, the causes and risk factors behind this disorder, and the various treatments that are used to manage OCD. [Transition] First off, I’d like to talk about the symptoms of OCD, as these are the aspects of the disorder that are used to diagnose it. II. Body e. Main Idea #1: Symptoms i. According to the American Journal of Psychotherapy, “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is defined as either obsessions or compulsions, with obsessions consisting of recurrent and intrusive thoughts, images, or impulses...
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...Psychology 130 Research Paper Mice May Provide Important Clues for OCD Disorder Great strides have taken place in the research area of obsessive-compulsive disorder over the past three years, and there is hope that better treatments for humans suffering from this disorder may soon be in place, and it is mice that are providing important clues to what may cause OCD. The key issue behind OCD research is to find treatment and relief for those humans suffering from this debilitating psychiatric condition which affects about two percent of the world’s population. OCD is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in the world. It is marked by persistent intrusive thoughts (the obsession), repetitive actions (the compulsion) and anxiety. Examples include fear of contamination, or that something terrible will happen to a loved one. They also suffer from repetitive rituals (compulsions), which are often designed to neutralise these thoughts. Examples include hand-washing and checking and rechecking things. These symptoms cause distress and can occupy hours during the day, interfering with a person’s quality of life and their ability to work. The severity of OCD varies widely from person to person, and while the neurobiological basis of the disease is unknown, there are indications in past research that genetics plays a role. One of the key studies conducted in the last three years was done by the Duke University Medicine Center who had been conducting basic research on...
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...Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is a common disease that affects several individuals. The questions that need to be answered about this topic include the following: What are symptoms of OCD? How is OCD treated? What are some of the medications used to help OCD? How does OCD affect others? Most individuals don't know they show signs of this disease, but with research they may gain knowledge and get help. Browning 2 Research: 1. What is OCD? OCD is short for obsessive- compulsive disorder. This disorder is considered as a type of anxiety and is looked at as a unique condition. It is a strong illness that sucks people in ongoing cycles of repeating actions and thoughts. People who struggle with OCD...
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...Psychology is a scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior (Kowalski & Westen,2011). Normal and Abnormal Psychology share a common similarity which is sharing involvement with mental processes and behaviors. Normal Psychology studies normal behaviors that do not affect mental processing. Abnormal psychology studies abnormal mental process and behaviors. Mental disorders have the potential to be very serious and debilitating. Four examples of mental disorders include ADD and ADHD, Schizophrenia, OCD, and Bipolar disorder. It is important to recognize common symptoms, prevalence, contributing factors, and possible treatments for these disorders. ADD is attention deficit disorder, which is described as the inability to concentrate. ADHD is attention deficit hyperactive disorder, characterized by behaviors that are excessive, long-term, and pervasive energy that keeps an individual hyperactive. Schizophrenia may include the presence of hallucinations and delusions. OCD is often characterized by obsession of impulses that occur repeatedly. Bipolar is a disorder that touches on periods of mania and possible depression. These disorders can be treated by medicine and other therapies. A common question surrounding these disorders involves contributing factors, are these disorders influenced through heredity, environment, or is it just psychological? Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a brain disorder where people hear voices, have hallucinations, and delusions. It is not easy...
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...Personality Disorders Overview In order to understand disorders of personality is it necessary to have a clear understanding of what personality actually means. Every single person in the world has a unique personality different than everyone else. Our personalities are thought of as the way we act, think, believe, and feel that makes us different from each other (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). Personalities vary from person to person, and we all exhibit an intense, life long, pattern of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings known as traits. Personality traits are said to be stable throughout our life’s and the situations we are faced with in life. Personality traits can range from happy and outgoing to miserable, lonely, unstable, and unreliable. When personality becomes disruptive, and interferes with life in areas of social and occupational functions they are said to be a personality disorder (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). Persons with personality disorders have difficulty in their identities, pursuits in life, and relationships. Important to add at this point is the most common theories of personality disorders. One theory of personality is known as the five factor model (the Big 5). This theory uses five dimensions or factors with negative and positive opposites on a continuum to explain personality disorders from functional to dysfunctional. The Big 5 factors are negative emotionally, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (Nolen-Hoeksema...
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...Often, in any given case, depression and anxiety are both present to some degree and there is also often overlap with the conduct disorders. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is categorised as one of the anxiety disorders. In most individuals with OCD, the picture is frequently mixed to a lesser or greater extent. OCD is highly co-morbid, with most studies finding up to 70% of children with OCD having at least one other disorder. Most common are other anxiety disorders, ADHD, developmental disabilities, conduct problems, substance abuse, depression and bipolar disorder (Swedo, Rapoport et al 1989). Any treatment programs for the OCD child must therefore take this into account and tailor the approach accordingly. The nature of childhood OCD and special problems faced Obsessions are unwanted, repetitive, intrusive thoughts, while compulsions involve repetitive, stereotyped behaviours that the child or adolescent feels compelled to perform. In the majority of youngsters with the disorder, both obsessions and compulsions are a feature (Wicks-Nelson & Israel, 2000). The implication is that the obsessions are covert, involuntary thoughts which increase anxiety and the compulsions are overt, voluntary behaviours which decrease the anxiety (Edelman 1992). According to the DSM IV, the obsessions must cause anxiety or distress and must not be simply excessive real life worries....
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...Pulling (Trichotillomania)). Other symptoms include preference for certain hair types, biting or chewing on hair after it has been pulled out (Mayo Clinic Staff). Trichotillomania is diagnosed based on the symptoms the person is showing or experiencing (What is Trichotillomania?). Along with the symptoms trich can also be diagnosed if the person’s hair loss is because of self inflicted pulling, rather than a medical condition that causes hair loss (Mayo Clinic Staff). After being diagnosed many people choose to seek help in order to try and get trich under manageable...
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...which happen internally cause our daily behaviours to be the way that they are. These are identified as private operations which determines how we perceive different problems in our lives, and attention that differs between the stimulus and response. People in society, according to the cognitive approach, are identified as people who process information that they learn from different sources. This goes through a process of receiving information from our senses, and then being processed by our brains which then leads to the direct way we behave towards the issue. Based on the variety of different researching methods we have gained over the years shows how our cognitive processes such as memory, attention span, linguistics and perception function....
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...Scrupulosity OCD Emily Hart Nova Southeastern University Abstract Scrupulosity is a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and it involves religious and moral obsessions, as well as mental and behavioral compulsions. Some symptoms may include obsessions such as, fears that one has lost touch with God or fears that prayers are said incorrectly. Compulsions that are preformed excessively related to Scrupulosity include, continually asking for God’s forgiveness or saying prayers a specific number of times. Causes of Scrupulosity OCD may derive from exposure to a specific environment or based on one’s genetic predisposition, however the definitive root of Scrupulosity is undefined. Two popular treatments for Scrupulosity involve Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Responses Prevention (ERP). Another form of Scrupulosity OCD is moral scrupulosity and this is based on negative and intrusive thoughts surrounding a person’s moral character. This literature review will also go further into discussing two specific articles on the treatment of Scrupulosity OCD. Outline * Define scrupulosity OCD * Discuss why it is a form of OCD * Discuss how it differs to a strong religious faith * Symptoms of scrupulosity OCD * Causes of scrupulosity OCD * Discuss common obsessive mental thoughts and behaviors * Eg. Repetitive thoughts about having committed a sin * Discuss common compulsive mental thoughts and behaviors * Eg. Excessive praying...
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...people into avoiding situations that trigger or worsen their symptoms. People with anxiety disorders are likely to suffer from depression, and they also may abuse alcohol and other drugs in an effort to gain relief from their symptoms. Job performance, school work, and personal relationships can also suffer. Types of Anxiety Disorders Panic disorder People with this condition have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. Other symptoms of a panic attack include sweating, chest pain, palpitations (irregular heartbeats), and a feeling of choking, which may make the person feel like he or she is having a heart attack or "going crazy." Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) People with OCD are plagued by constant thoughts or fears that cause them to perform certain rituals or routines. The disturbing thoughts are called obsessions, and the rituals are called compulsions. An example is a person with an unreasonable fear of germs who constantly washes his or her hands. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) PTSD is a condition that can develop following a traumatic and/or terrifying event, such as a sexual or physical assault, the unexpected death of a loved one, or...
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...discussing causes of disorders for three selected case studies The case of Bess Obsessive compulsive disorder commonly referred to as OCD is an anxiety disorder; people who suffer from OCD act compulsively and have obsessive thoughts. The fear of contamination is most common type of OCD; it leads to compulsive cleaning rituals as fear of germs, or dirt is a frightening thought for OCD sufferers. OCD could be explained biologically and psychologically. Genes could be a factor that could expose one to OCD. It is thought of that OCD could be passed on genetically. Family studies are good source supporting this theory; the siblings, parents or children of OCD sufferer have 50% genes similar to the OCD sufferer. The risk of getting OCD is between 2-3%, if the percentage is bigger than 2-3% within the family members it is the suggested as an evidence for genetic influences. Close family members have 10-15% risk of developing OCD which stands as a strong evidence. Another study has concentrated on the twins both identical and fraternal. The twins that were studied where selected based on if one had definitely OCD and they looked if the other twin had it too. The results showed that the second twin had 53-87% risk of developing OCD. With the fraternal twins the risk was smaller at 23-43%. To fully understand OCD psychological factors that could trigger OCD need to be taken into consideration too. Regression to an anal stage is an example of psychodynamic explanation for OCD. It is when...
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...Many of us have seen the television shows about people who have hoarded so much stuff in their house, they cannot do anything because of the clutter, even prepare food, or eat at the table. Hoarding is defined as the acquirement of, and inability to discard worthless items even though they appear to have no value (Hall, 68). Hoarding behaviors can occur in a variety of psychiatric disorders and in the normal population, but are most commonly found in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hoarding creates a lot of problems; both for the hoarder and those around them. One is just navigating through a congested obstacle course of stuff in a house becomes difficult. To get something requires searching through stacks of stuff. To put something away requires a nuisance of movement of all the stuff in the cramped area, as well as thinking and decisions on how to do it. Another problem is that there are no areas to do any real work such as counters, tables or workbenches. All this consumes a huge amount of time and energy of the people who live in such conditions. According to demographics, psychiatrists estimate between 2% and 5% of the adult population in the United States and Canada are compulsive hoarders. In North America alone, there are about 4000 cases of animal hoarding involving up to 250,000 reported animals. (Frey, 760) Researchers only began to study hoarding in the 1980s so it is possible that the actual rate of hoarding is higher than reported. This disorder...
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...Definition - 386 OCD is characterized by recurrent, intrusive thoughts and images (obsessions) or by repetitive behaviours or mental acts performed to reduce distress (compulsions) (Bloch, Landeros-Weisenberger, Rosario, Pittenger, & Leckman, 2008). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–5; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) goes beyond this definition and says that a patient can be diagnosed with OCD when they satisfy all of these four criteria: Firstly they suffer from obsessions or compulsions. Secondly the obsessions or compulsions are time consuming or cause significant distress or impairment because even the normal population experiences some levels of obsession and compulsion (Steketee & Barlow, 2002). The last two points are that the symptoms cannot be attributed to the use of a substance, another medical condition or another mental disorder. DSM-5 also suggests that the diagnostician specify the level of insight that an individual has of the illegitimacy of their OCD beliefs. Poorer insight correlates with more negative long-term outcomes (APA, 2013)....
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...Psychological explanations of OCD are made up of firstly, behavioral and secondly cognitive explanations. Although they both explain the obsessions and compulsions of OCD in different ways, they each have their own ways of interpreting the aspects of OCD and how people behave. Behavioral explanations of OCD talk about how obsessions and compulsions are learned behaviors. The acquisition of obsessions is a two way process; classical conditioning talks about how a neutral stimulus becomes associated with anxiety, whereas operant conditioning describes how the anxiety associated with the stimulus is maintained by avoidance. An individual who avoids the feared stimulus leads to positive outcomes, and is therefore negatively reinforcing. Classical and Operant conditioning predicts that OCD patients have been predisposed to rapid conditioning. Tracy et al support this view; as they separated students into an ‘OCD like’ group and a control group based on their answers to an obsessive compulsive symptom checklist. They then used and eye blink task to see how much time it took for students in each group to condition (blink in response to a bell.) Their results showed that some OCD-like students were conditioned more quickly, and so this is one strength to support how conditioning has an effect on OCD patients. The other side of behavioral explanations of OCD is compulsions which suggest that the obsessions associated with anxiety are reduced following the compulsive behavior, and...
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