Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Josephine Beker Thomas Jefferson University Description of condition Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogenous, chronic condition which can be further divided into subgroups dependent on the symptoms presented (Bjorgvinsson, Hart & Heffelfinger, 2007). It is characterized by obsessive thoughts or images, which cause stress or anxiety for the patients, as well as compulsive behaviors, which are often repetitive in nature and used to reduce the feelings of distress (McGuire, Lewin, Horng, Murphy & Storch, 2012). Signs/Symptoms - the manifestations…
One well-known example to describe OCD is the obsession of feeling dirty and always believing that one’s self is contaminated, and the compulsion would be to wash one’s hands constantly to get rid of the obsession. After a compulsion is performed, relief will be felt; though, relief will never last. The next section will cover how Holden fits these…
a. In his paper, Faulty Circuits, Insel suggested that biological malfunctions underlie psychological disorder. He used some modern biology and neuroscience findings to support his argument. Here are three pieces of evidence he used. He first presented a study performed at the National Institute of Mental Health on a serotonin transporter gene of participants with and without depression.…
Introduction Evaluations in social work practices are needed to report the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of psychological intervention used in the field. The single subject research design (SSRD) is an empirical measurement of a client’s functioning over a time span. This SSRD tool will measure the client’s functioning before, during and after the intervention (Jordan & Franklin, 2011). This paper will describe the client, establish a baseline, track two targeted goals over 30 days and applied interventions, analyze the results of the study and address the studies limitations. Case summary Sharon is a 48-year-old Caucasian women.…
Another example is when Joan and her maids were scrubbing her tiles floors clean. Everything looked beautiful and spotless until Joan finds something out of place which happened to be under the potted plant. Joan began scrubbing the infected spot herself while continued to say “Oh I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at the dirt.” These are obvious examples of obsessive compulsive disorder because she keeps imagining all the dirt accumulating everywhere and she can’t help but to make sure it’s all…
Obsessive compulsion disorder, also known as O.C.D, is a mental disorder where a person feels the need to repeat things over and over again until he or she feels satisfied. Psychologist call the need to repeat things over and over again a ritual. While only 2.3% of the U.S population has O.C.D (mHMR), not all O.C.D is the same. One person may feel the need to always wash their hands, while another may feel the need to turn a doorknob a certain amount of times. Doctors do not know what cause O.C.D, but they can most likely assume it is from genetics, stress, trauma, or a chemical imbalance in the brain.…
According to the Cognitive approach for OCD, the thoughts keep reoccurring because Julie is unable to build up her self worth. When Julie starts thinking she is doing something unsatisfactory, the first thing she does is to blame herself. Finally there is the Biological model, which states that OCD can be inherited. In this case, Julie may have inherited her OCD from her grandfather who had paranoia and a tendency to repeatedly wash his hands. Personally, I would say the Julie's OCD is mainly being effected by Behavioral approach and the Biological approach.…
Disease trivialization has three main components: oversimplification of symptoms, skepticism of the severity, and levity (Pavelko, 2015). The first facet of disease trivialization, the oversimplification of symptoms, is easily applicable to OCD. For example, few people outside of the medical community are aware that OCD has many sub-types. However, due to media coverage focusing heavily on compulsive OCD over purely obsessive OCD many people only associate the disorder with organizing or hand-washing (Allen, 2013). Unfortunately, this disparity in knowledge excludes many of the subtypes in OCD and in turn excludes many of the symptoms that are specific to these subtypes.…
Someone who has obsessive-compulsive disorder gets thoughts that are unwanted that cause them to do repetitive behaviors (Rathus, 2010). For example, people with OCD have the obsession to clean everything spotless, like Joan Crawford when she had to clean under a plant that would be easily forgotten by anyone else. One night in the Crawford household when the children were still young, Joan walked into the bedroom where Christina was sleeping to hang a dress and found a wire hanger, a long with a “messy bathroom”. Instantly, Joan snapped and woke-up her sleeping daughter, beat her with the wire hanger, and yelled at her to clean the bathroom floor. Christina insisted she cleaned it that day and said “It isn’t messy, Mommie.…
When the brain thinks something is dangerous, it’s initial response is to react to the stimuli and to try and protect itself. If a person is exposed to that same stimuli many more times without anything dangerous actually happening, the person’s brain starts to recognize a pattern of safety and stops firing the warning. Exposure Response Prevention has been proven to be more effective than the traditional practice of talking things out which is carried out in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Studies have shown that Exposure Response Prevention can be just as effective as a treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as various medications can be. This is especially beneficial information considering that, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, it is not possible to develop a dependency on Exposure Response Prevention.…
Life altering factors, common for individuals with an OCD diagnosis, can include social avoidance, lack of decision-making skills, and time-consuming rituals, such as checking (Lochner et al., 2014). This reality may present a continuous challenge for Melvin in his daily living, and relationships. Even with medication, and therapeutic treatment, which can have positive impact to assist in Melvin in managing his OCD, relapse to consuming, compulsive behaviour, is a high probability (Grant et al.,…
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy & Patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is one of the most popular types of therapy when treating disorders such as anxiety, panic disorders, and most commonly, obsessive compulsive disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy is defined as changing the disturbing thoughts of a person by identifying their feelings, beliefs, and behaviors in order to eventually change the behavior of the person (Courtois, 2009). Cognitive therapy treats many disorders. However, the most common disorder is obsessive compulsive disorder. Obsessive compulsive disorder is defined as having intrusive thoughts or obsessions which increases anxiety.…
It’s all that, but more. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It’s a mental illness in which people have unwanted or repetitive thoughts, feelings, ideas, and obsessions. The cause of OCD is unknown, but it is thought to be the result of a brain malfunction. Nearly one half of all cases begin in childhood.…
Melvin Udall is a middle aged man, in his forties or fifties who is part of a higher socioeconomic class, due to his successful career as a stay at home writer. He lives in an upscale New York apartment and during his free time enjoys playing the piano. Melvin expresses prejudicial attitudes, including anti-Semitism, racism, and heterosexism. He made several of these comments, claiming “assault and battery and your black,” to his neighbor’s black friend, “there’s Jews at my table,” along with another stereotypical comment about their “big noses,” and he even introduced his neighbor as “Simon the fag,” a homophobic slur. He gives little background information, except for saying that his dad used to hit him as a kid if he ever made a mistake while playing the piano, which may explain his behavior.…
It, however, overrides the biological or genetic contributions towards building and shaping the character and personality of an individual. These approaches are created to guide and direct an individual’s perception of thinking. The key purpose of this essay is to analyze the theoretical views and opinions of theorist Sigmund Freud, Albert Bandura and Skinner B.F. on the development of personality and typical or atypical behavior. To achieve this, the paper will demonstrate how each theorist explains the development of the obsessive-compulsive disorder.…