MENTAL HEALTH BASICS


Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, involves anxious thoughts or
rituals you feel you can't control. If you have OCD, you may be plagued
by persistent, unwelcome thoughts or images, or by the urgent need to
engage in certain rituals.

OCD afflicts about 3.3 million adult Americans. It strikes men and women
in approximately equal numbers and usually first appears in childhood,
adolescence, or early adulthood. One-third of adults with OCD report
having experienced their first symptoms as children. The course of the
disease is variable-symptoms may come and go, they may ease over time,
or they can grow progressively worse. Research evidence suggests that
OCD might run in families.

You may be obsessed with germs or dirt, so you wash your hands over and
over. You may be filled with doubt and feel the need to check things
repeatedly. You may have frequent thoughts of violence, and fear that
you will harm people close to you. You may spend long periods touching
things or counting; you may be pre-occupied by order or symmetry; you
may have persistent thoughts of performing sexual acts that are
repugnant to you; or you may be troubled by thoughts that are against
your religious beliefs.

The disturbing thoughts or images are called obsessions, and the rituals
that are performed to try to prevent or get rid of them are called
compulsions. There is no pleasure in carrying out the rituals you are
drawn to, only temporary relief from the anxiety that grows when you
don't perform them.

A lot of healthy people can identify with some of the symptoms of OCD,
such as checking the stove several times before leaving the house. But
for people with OCD, such activities consume at least an hour a day, are
very distressing, and interfere with daily life.

Most adults with this condition recognize that what they're doing is
senseless, but they can't stop it. Some people, though, particularly
children with OCD, may not realize that their behavior is out of the
ordinary.

Depression or other anxiety disorders may accompany OCD, and some people
with OCD also have eating disorders. In addition, people with OCD may
avoid situations in which they might have to confront their obsessions,
or they may try unsuccessfully to use alcohol or drugs to calm
themselves. If OCD grows severe enough, it can keep someone from holding
down a job or from carrying out normal responsibilities at home.

OCD generally responds well to treatment with medications or carefully
targeted psychotherapy.