OCD

• OCD is a serious anxiety-related condition where a person experiences frequent intrusive and unwelcome obsessive thoughts, often followed by repetitive impulses and urges.
• What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?


  Compulsions.

  Avoidance.
• What is the behavioral component of OCD?


  Compulsive behavior
• What are the two elements of compulsive behavior in OCD?


  • Compulsions are repetitive
  • Compulsions reduce anxiety
• What is a common example of compulsive behavior in OCD?


  Hand washing
• Why do sufferers of OCD typically feel compelled to repeat a behavior?


  They feel a need to manage anxiety
• What are other common compulsive repetitions besides hand washing?


  Counting, praying, tidying/ordering objects
• What percentage of OCD sufferers show compulsive behavior alone?


  About 10%
• What do compulsive behaviors aim to manage in the majority of OCD sufferers?


  The anxiety produced by obsessions
• How does compulsive hand washing relate to obsessive fears?


  It is a response to an obsessive fear of germs
• What is an example of compulsive checking behavior in OCD?


  Checking if a door is locked
• What obsessive thought might lead to compulsive checking of gas appliances?


  The thought that it might be left unsecured
• Compulsions are repetitive, OCD sufferers feel compelled to repeat a beahviour.
• Compulsions reduce anxiety.
• Avoidance:

  The behaviour of OCD sufferers also be characterised by their avoidance as they attempt to reduce anxiety by keeping away from situations that trigger it.

  Sufferers of OCD tend to try to manage their OCD by avoiding situations that trigger anxiety.
• What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?


  Anxiety and distress.

  Guilt and disgust.

  Accompanying depression.
• Anxiety and distress:

  OCD is regarded as a particularly unpleasant emotional experience because of the powerful anxiety that accompanies both obsessions and compulsions.

  Obsessive thoughts are unpleasant and frightening, and the anxiety that goes with these can be overwhelming.

  The urge to repeat a behaviour( a compulsion) creates anxiety.
• Accompanying depression:

  OCD is often accompanied by depression, so anxiety can be accompanied by low mood and lack of enjoyment in activities.

  Compulsive behaviour tends to bring some relief from anxiety but this is temporary.
• Guilt and disgust:

  As well as anxiety and depression, OCD sometimes involves other negative emotions such as irrational guilt, for example over minor moral issues, or disgust, which may be directed against something external like dirt or at the self.
• What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?


  Obsessive thoughts.

  Cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions.

  Insight into excessive anxiety.
• Obsessive Thoughts:

  Around 90% of OCD sufferers the major cognitive feature of their condition is obsessive thoughts.

  Vary from person to person but always unpleasant.

  EG: Being contaminated by dirt and germs or certainty that the door has been left unlocked and that intruders will get through it, or impulses to hurt someone.
• Insight into excessive anxiety:

  People who suffer from OCD are aware that their thoughts are not rational.

  This is necessary for a diagnosis of OCD.

  If obsessive thoughts were based on reality then would be a symptom of a different disorder,

  OCD sufferers experience catastrophic thoughts about the worst case scenarios that might result if anxieties were justified.

  Tend to be hypervigilant, e.g. they maintain constant alertness and keep attention to focus on potential hazards.
• Cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions:

  Obsessions are the major cognitive aspect of OCD, but people also respond through adopting cognitive copying strategies.

  EG: a religious person tormented by obsessive guilt may respond by praying or meditating.

  This may help manage anxiety but can make the person appear abnormal to others and can distract them from everyday tasks.
• OCD is recognised in the DSM-5 as having repetitive behaviours and obsessive thinking.