OCD & Health Anxiety
What is OCD?
Obsessions are ideas, thoughts, images or impulses that are senseless. They continue even though a person may try to ignore or forget about them.
Compulsions are also called rituals, and are usually actions, which are repeated, but sometimes are thought patterns that are preformed to rid oneself of a disturbing obsession. The person recognises that the rituals are not reasonable but feels unable to control them. Examples include hand washing, checking, or mentally repeating phrases.
OCD can take many forms. Some people are bothered by thoughts of contamination by germs or chemicals; some are preoccupied by thoughts of causing accidents or injury; others focus on fears about home security and safety.
Effects of OCD
Obsessional problems can and do take over peoples lives, making regular employment or family life impossible. People find that have little or no time for anything, other than the obsession. When troubled by their OCD people experience high levels of discomfort. Sometimes this is anxiety, sometimes it is feeling miserable or depressed, other times it is just a very unpleasant feeling that things are not right.
Causes
Those who suffer from OCD vary widely in their personality characteristics and life circumstances. There is some research evidence to suggest that certain types of upbringings and family rules may increase the likelihood of OCD. Sufferers feel they should not ignore the thought but try very hard to "push it away" or else to "put it right" by some other thought or action. Unfortunately both these strategies make the worse, and so the vicious circle of OCD develops.
Treatment
The most widely accepted form of psychological treatment for OCD is behaviour therapy. This takes the form of a structured programme of self re-education. Sufferers have to confront repeatedly what they fear (a process called "exposure") beginning with the easiest situations and progressing through till all the feared items have been faced. At the same time, the persons must not perform any rituals or checks. In some programmes rituals are reduced gradually; in others compulsions are prevented altogether.
A greater understanding of the role of cognitions in OCD has lead to the development of Cognitive Behavioural approach to the problem. This provides sufferers with a new framework for understanding their experiences. Through this they are helped to change what they understand their Obsessional thoughts to mean, and what it is necessary to do about them.
