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Treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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Treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Sam A. Okibe

May 10th, 2013

Treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
INTRODUCTION:
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric illness categorized under anxiety disorder. OCD is characterized by marked obsession (thoughts) and compulsion (repetitive behavior) aimed at satisfying the obsession. The DSM-IV-TR (2000) places OCD’s diagnosis under Axis-1 along with most anxiety disorders.
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) which afflicts over 5 to 6 million American adults, teens, and children, most not be confused with the personality disorder known as obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). The two disorders differ in that while those suffering from OCD are characterized by repeated need to satisfy ritualistic actions, those afflicted with OCPD tend to focus on perfectionism, marked by severe anxiety when they feel that things are not how they should be. In a Time magazine article entitled When Worry Hijacks The Brain Kluger, Cray, and Pomerance (2007), noted that the average lag time before OCD is properly diagnosed is a shocking nine years. Kluger et al. continued by stating that it takes an additional eight years before an effective treatment is prescribed. OCD is behind schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, and ADHD as far as treatment research is concerned (Kluger et al.).

WHAT CAUSES OCD?
Psychologists and Psychiatrics have since the late 17th century engaged themselves with different approaches on the cause of OCD (Goodman, 2006). According to Goodman, 17th and 18th century theorists attributed the cause of OCD to Satanic possession of the victim’s soul, and by the 20th century, scholars of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory developed the idea that OCD is caused by unresolved conflicts from early stages of psychological development.
Nonetheless, medical and psychological

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