This blog contains explanation about Obsessive–compulsive disorder OCD. It starts with what OCD stands for. Then it will discuss what is OCD and how it occurs. After that it will tell you the Causes of OCD in detail. It will also discuss the main symptoms of OCD. This blog will also explain the types of OCD. Then it contains the details about Treatment of OCD. At the end it will discuss OCD Test, OCD Patient and Prevention of OCD. This blog will discuss the causes, symptoms, patient, test, Treatment and Prevention of OCD.
OCD stands for:
It stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is a mental disorder that has combination of obsessions and compulsions.
OCD Disorder:
OCD is a long-lasting disorder in which a person experiences uncontrollable thoughts (obsessions), engages in repetitive behaviors (compulsions), or both.
The person with OCD experience repetitive behaviors called compulsions so these obsessions and compulsions get in the way of their daily life activities and cause a lot of distress.
OCD can be minor or can be complicated in patients but all types of OCD effects a patient’s life at a great extent and the symptoms can be seen visibly.
We need to accept OCD as a serious disorder before it gets out of control or become severe.
We will discuss the Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention of OCD.
Causes of OCD:
Following are some of the causes of OCD:
● Genetic problems:
Genetic problems can cause OCD. If the genes of any person contain OCD, he can be prone to OCD in his life. If there is any family history about OCD then the next generations may get OCD very easily.
● Brain Abnormalities:
If your brain function is not proper or your brain is not developed properly, it can be the cause of OCD so if the brain have any abnormality, things gets tougher for the person to understand and react over it.
● Toxic environment of a person:
If a person lives in a toxic environment or he is abused or hurt everyday and lives in a cage, he can get OCD. The compulsions and obsessions in this case, are reflection of his lowered self esteem and his psychological condition.
● Stressful life events:
Stressful life events such as death of any loved ones, witnessing any blast or road accident, failing in any relationship etc. have severe impact on a person’s psychology. This can be a direct cause of getting OCD in an exposed person.
Any life event and any abnormality can result in causing OCD. Experts can’t tell the exact reason of OCD. A person may have OCD because of any shocking change or loss of his or her life. So, we cannot find the exact causes.
Symptoms of OCD:
Following are some of the symptoms of OCD:
Handwashing and cleaning
Ordering and arranging
Repeating words in their heads
Checking doors and being insecure about their security.
Avoiding places and situations that will trigger them.
Thinking neutralizing thoughts to counter unwanted thoughts.
All these symptoms can be of OCD in start or in extreme conditions.
Types of OCD:
Following are some types of OCD:
HOCD:
HOCD stands for Homosexual Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is the disorder in which a person has excessive fear of becoming homosexual. The subject face intrusive thoughts and unwanted mental images related to homosexuality in this condition and so the excessive thoughts and doubts are very distressing and leads to severe compulsions in form of checking. HOCD is a rare and serious OCD condition in types of OCD.
POCD:
POCD stands for Paedophile Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is also used frequently to describe prenatal and postpartum OCD and ‘Pure O’, but it is widely accepted to mean Paedophile OCD. We know that those with this type of OCD often use the POCD acronym to stop saying and using the word paedophile. Since part of recovery is accepting and getting used to the thoughts. Accepting and using this word could be the first step towards that.
ROCD:
ROCD stands for Relationship Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is a new type of OCD. It includes the fears and doubts about one’s relationship, that is mostly any intimate and romantic in nature. Patients may experience fears, anxiety and doubts about whether their partner is right for them. They also have doubts about if their partner is genuinely with them or not. They also have doubt that whether they should end their relationship or not.
These are the main types of OCD.
OCD Patient:
People with OCD have problematic and weird behavior. Constantly seeking approval or reassurance for everything they see and do. They face related to numbers, such as counting, repeating, excessively preference or avoiding certain numbers.
OCD Test:
OCD test is for the diagnosis of OCD in a patient. It also tells you the extent of OCD in a person. OCD test is a combination of different questions that the psychologists or mental health experts ask from the patients to know that does a person have OCD, to continue their treatment and medication. A quiz is formulated for the patients for the diagnosis, so it is taken by the criteria explained in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-V) to diagnose OCD. This criteria include the following points:
Having Obsessions and Compulsions
Obsessions and Compulsions take long time
Obsession and Compulsion take a lot of distress and affect the patients social activities.
There are no symptoms by substances such as alcohol
We cannot explain the symptoms by other mental disorders
The test is take according to this criteria and this helps in the diagnosis of OCD.
Treatment for OCD:
There are two main and common treatments for OCD:
1. Talking Therapy:
This therapy works to take inner obsessions and compulsions out through talking to the patient. And then help them through your positive words to fight with those thoughts. This may really help the patient. It includes encouragement to fight with fears and harmful thoughts. It also create confidence in the patients to keep them motivated in their life. Talking therapy is given by the professionals to make so it can be more effective and beneficial. Following are the types of talking therapies that are used for OCD:
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy):
During CBT, a therapist will help you examine and understand your thoughts and emotions. Over several sessions, CBT can help change harmful thoughts and stop negative habits, perhaps replacing them with healthier ways to cope.
ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention):
ERP is a type of CBT. During ERP, a therapist exposes you to your feared situations or images and has you resist the urge to perform a compulsion. For example, your therapist ask you to touch dirty objects but then stop you from washing your hands. By staying in fear without anything negative happening, you learn that your anxious thoughts are just thoughts and not necessarily reality.
ACT (Acceptance and Communication Therapy):
ACT helps you learn to accept obsessive thoughts as just thoughts, taking the power away from them. An ACT therapist will help you learn to live a meaningful life despite your OCD symptoms. This is a useful treatment to cure the severe cases of OCD.
2. Medication:
In extreme cases, antidepressants are used to keep the patient calm to control his or her thoughts. These medicines help the patient to be in peace for some time and provide them great sleep and help them to get rid of unwanted thoughts and obsessions that are harming them but the dose of the medicine should be as prescribed by the doctor. In severe conditions high dose is given to the patients, while in mild cases normal dose will be enough.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is behavioral disorder in general. We can treat it with behavioral practices and environment of a person. This can cause by stressful environment and toxic behaviors. We can cure it by careful behavior and suitable environment.
Prevention of OCD:
OCD is not preventable but early treatment can help you to get rid of it. OCD is a disorder that become bigger and bigger with time and create strong foundation into a persons psychology. That is why health care provider advice for early diagnosis and treatment of OCD to avoid the worst symptoms of OCD. The achievement in OCD is not getting worst symptoms and threatening conditions. So, even the slight symptoms should not be left untreated in this case.
Conclusion:
OCD is a common problem in people with unwanted obsessions and over confidence so this disease highly effect the patient’s personal and social life. People hesitate talking and spending time with OCD patients. They should be treated with counselling to get rid of unwanted thoughts, obsessions and compulsions. We should consider OCD a serious psychological disorder and help OCD patients for their speedy recovery. Untreated OCD can be life threatening for the patient and caretakers. So, we should treat it before getting worst, through high level of observation of the symptoms and early treatment. We discussed Causes, Symptoms, Types, Treatment and Prevention of OCD.
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