Research Paper on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or commonly used acronym OCD, is according to Fenske, MD and Petersen, MD a “neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent distressing thoughts and repetitive behaviors or mental rituals performed to reduce anxiety” (Fenske & Petersen, 2015). Other definition, by NIMH states that OCD is a “common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over” (NIMH» Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, 2018). Heretik et al. characterises OCD by defining the symptoms it’s expressed by, obsessions, being cognitive disorders, thoughts, ideas and doubts that an individual considers to be his own, and compulsions being behavioural disorders of stereotypical and ritualistic nature, with the main function of preventing something from happening. The person themselves acknowledges their meaninglessness. (Heretik et al., 2016). Obsessions and compulsions, as stated in the NIMH definition, are uncontrollable and reoccurring, meaning that one can not prevent themselves from repeating them, however, it may give us the notion that a person is completely overwhelmed by them in a sense that they fully believe them, therefore it is important to state the fact, that most people diagnosed with OCD are usually aware of the absurdity of some of their obsessional acts as was stated in the definition by Heretik et al. The first definition, by Fenske & Petersen states that the mental rituals are performed to ease the feelings of anxiety. This could be considered important information, because it tells us about the reasons an individual with OCD might perform the rituals. This definition, as well as the one by Hererik et al. talks about the feelings of unease and fear that precede the rituals, when one might feel that, for example, the dangerous situations they unintentionally think about might come true if they do not perform a set of activities (the ritual). The definition by Heretik et al. separates the individual words forming the name of the disorder, defines them individually and then concludes the definition by informing us of the reason one performs rituals but also offers us a point of view of the person with OCD. For these reasons I will continue to use their definition to refer to through this paper.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves a large amount of symptoms that can vary from person to person. Obsessions may include fear of contamination, when a person might be abnormally scared of germs, they might be obsessed with being clean or they midnight feel they are living in a messy environment. These beliefs are connected to various compulsions such as the urge to clean more frequently than it is common, disinfecting one’s environment, being obsessed with hygiene and washing one’s hands repeatedly. Another obsession is being overly concerned with the state of one’s health, characterised by constant worries about diseases or accidents. We can often see portrayals of another obsession, the need for symmetry in popular culture, such as movies or TV shows, where individuals feel the urge to, for example, put pencils in a straight line or put objects in the correct order. While these portrayals contribute a lot to the destigmatisation of OCD by exposing the population to the existence of this disorder, they may sometimes lead to the usage of the term OCD in inappropriate cases. Obsessive compulsive disorder is considered to be very time-consuming and comes with distress and anxiety and those are the factors that differ it from common impulses, such as wanting to have a clean house, or not wanting to have a messy environment. Also, these rituals are usually accompanied by other rituals such as repeating the same sentence multiple times or counting the trees, cars, etc. repeatedly. The underlying thought that permeates these rituals is the irrational fear that something harmful may happen if they do not perform them. It is also completely healthy to sometimes feel the urge to confirm some activities, for example not being sure if we have indeed locked the door and coming back to check them again or counting objects repetitively. One should consider seeing a specialist if the time spent doing such activities starts to interfere with one’s daily activities, if the obsessions start to occur more frequently, if the thoughts are starting to be considered more and more important or when they are starting to be more difficult to stop, as these are the classifications of intrusive thoughts and compulsions of OCD according to Bouvard et al. (Bouvard et al., 2018). According to Jose M. Menchon the lifetime prevalence of OCD is 2-2.5%. (Menchon, 2012). The criteria for OCD diagnosis are stated in various diagnostic manuals. Many diagnostic methods exist to correctly identify the complex nature of obsessive-compulsive disorder, for example the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive scale, Leyton Obsessional Inventory or various forms of structured interviews. There are many causes of OCD, such as brain disturbances (caused by accidents, or prenatal), genetic factors or psychological trauma (Geller et al., 2012). Therapy available for OCD is being researched and to this day many types of therapies are helping more and more patients, such as psychotherapy, especially cognitive-behavioural therapy, pharmacotherapy, mainly anti-obsessional drugs, but also electroconvulsive therapy.