Obsessive-compulsive disorder history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
History and Symptoms
OCD is manifested in a variety of forms.
Community studies have placed the prevalence between one and three percent, although the prevalence of clinically recognized OCD is much lower, suggesting that many individuals with the disorder are unaccounted for clinically.[1] The fact that many individuals do not seek treatment may be due in part to stigma associated with OCD. Another reason for not seeking treatment is because many sufferers of OCD do not realize that what they are suffering from is OCD, mainly because the typical depiction of the disorder in the media and elsewhere only covers a few of the many symptoms of OCD.
The typical OCD sufferer performs tasks (or compulsions) to seek relief from obsession-related anxiety. To others, these tasks may appear odd and unnecessary. But for the sufferer, such tasks can feel critically important, and must be performed in particular ways to ward off dire consequences and to stop the stress from building up. Examples of these tasks: repeatedly checking that one's parked car has been locked before leaving it; turning lights on and off a set number of times before exiting a room; repeatedly washing hands at regular intervals throughout the day.
Symptoms may include some, all, or perhaps none of the following:
- Repeated hand washing.
- Repeated clearing of the throat, although nothing may need to be cleared.
- Specific counting systems — e.g., counting in groups of four, arranging objects in groups of three, grouping objects in odd/even numbered groups, etc.
- One serious symptom which stems from this is "counting" steps — e.g., feeling the necessity to take 12 steps to the car in the morning.
- Perfectly aligning objects at complete, absolute right angles, or aligning objects perfectly parallel etc. This symptom is shared with OCPD and can be confused with this condition unless it is realized that in OCPD it is not stress-related.
- Having to "cancel out" bad thoughts with good thoughts. Examples of bad thoughts are:
- Imagining harming a child and having to imagine a child playing happily to cancel it out.
- Sexual obsessions or unwanted sexual thoughts. Two classic examples are fear of being homosexual or fear of being a pedophile. In both cases, sufferers will obsess over whether or not they are genuinely aroused by the thoughts.
- Strange and chronic worried about certain events such as sleeping, eating, leaving home, etc without proper items. An example would be one who literally can't fall asleep without a metronome.
- A fear of contamination (see Mysophobia); some sufferers may fear the presence of human body secretions such as saliva, sweat, tears, vomit, or mucus, or excretions such as urine or feces. Some OCD sufferers even fear that the soap they're using is contaminated.[2]
- A need for both sides of the body to feel even. A person with OCD might walk down a sidewalk and step on a crack with the ball of their left foot, then feel the need to step on another crack with the ball of their right foot. If one hand gets wet, the sufferer may feel very uncomfortable if the other is not. If the sufferer is walking and bumps into something, he/she may hit the object or person back to feel a sense of evenness. These symptoms are also experienced in a reversed manner. Some sufferers would rather things to be uneven, favoring the preferred side of the body.
- An obsession with numbers (be it in maths class, watching TV, or in the room). Some people are obsessed with even numbers while loathing odd numbers (they cause them a great deal of anxiety and often make the person uncomfortable or even angry) or vice versa.
- Twisting the head on a toy around, then twisting it all the way back exactly in the opposite direction.(see even body section)
There are many other possible symptoms, and one need not display those above to suffer from OCD. Formal diagnosis is performed by a mental health professional. Furthermore, possessing the symptoms above is not an absolute diagnosis of OCD.
References
- ↑ Fireman B, Koran LM, Leventhal JL, Jacobson A (2001). "The prevalence of clinically recognized obsessive-compulsive disorder in a large health maintenance organization". The American journal of psychiatry. 158 (11): 1904–10. PMID 11691699.
- ↑ "OCD and Contamination". Retrieved 2007-06-28.