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Obsessive Compulsion Disorder

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Submitted By lisachambers
Words 1377
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Lisa Stoltey
January 13, 2013
Obsessive-compulsion disorder
HCA/240
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts; feelings, ideas, sensations or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something. People that suffer from OCD are often entirely consumed by these compulsions that it can be difficult to function normally on a regular basis. There are many facts, myths, and beliefs about how OCD works, came about, treated and coped with.

The history of when OCD was first noticed is not set in stone but it is believed that the first belief was around the European Renaissance about 14th to 16th centuries. “One belief that began to be abandoned was the superstitious notion that mental illnesses were caused by the devil, demons, or supernatural forces.” ("Short history of," 2009) Compulsions brought on by OCD were called scrupulosity. Sufferers of OCD where mainly treated in the clergy. By the 1700’s the clergy were deferring to physicians to help people suffering from OCD. There were not very many treatments at this time and had to use the tools they did have to try and help the compulsions. The first treatment reported was bloodletting or a phlebotomy. This is when the doctor would drain blood from the sufferer in a effort to adjust the bodily “humors”("Short history of," 2009)In the 1700’s they did not know how to treat OCD as a whole but focused on the compulsion instead. For example, one woman reported having harmful thoughts about her children and stomach problems so she was treated with laxatives and enemas. Some cases of OCD in the 1700’s were compulsive washing, compulsive checking, and obsessive fear of syphilis, aggressive and sexual obsessions, and responsibility obsessions. OCD sufferers faced a change in mid 1700’s to beginning of 1800’s when OCD sufferers were put in asylums. This

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