Characteristics of ocd

• Behavioural characteristics:

  • Avoidance
  • Compulsions as a method of anxiety reduction (e.g washing hands to reduce anxiety over germs)
• Emotional characteristics of OCD:

  • Accompanying depression
  • Guilt and disgust
  • Anxiety
• • Cognitive characteristics:
  • Obsessive thought – recurring thoughts over and over – always unpleasant
  • Cognitive coping strategies – people respond with adopting cognitive coping strategies to deal with obsessions – these help manage anxiety (but make them seem abnormal)
  • Insight into excessive anxiety – people with OCD experience catastrophic thoughts about worse-case scenarios – that may result if anxiety is justified. People with OCD tend to be hyper vigilant – attention purely focusing on potential hazards