Obsessive compulsive

disorder
26/09

OCD

Here is where your presentation begins

By Prajna
- One of the most common anxiety disorder (affecting 1-5% of the population)
- These visible behaviours may be due to deep anxiety for the individual
- Approximately 69% of those diagnosed with anxiety have obsessions and
compulsions (25% only obsessions and 6% only compulsions)
- Criteria for diagnosis in the DSM V - presence of obsessions and/or compulsions
- There is a triggering event followed by obsessive thoughts and discomfort and
compulsion involves repeating the action continuously
- Examples of obsession fear on contamination, imagining a fire breaking out in every
building entered
- Commonly associate with highly repetitive behaviours such as hand washing,
checking fire exits, rereading mails and messages before sending to ensure it is
correct (compulsions) which impair
-
Hoarding
- Where individuals experience great difficulty getting rid of possessions, leading to
them collecting unwanted things and storing it.
- This makes their homes untidy, cluttered and unhygienic
- Things people hoard include clothes, newspapers, magazines, paper and plastic bags,
cardboard boxes, photographs, household supplies etc.
- Reasons for hoarding may include : prevention of harm, deprivation hoarding,
emotional attachment.
- Feature of hoarding include :
- accumulation of things that have little or no value
- difficulty in discarding or parting with things
- indecision about what to keep or where to put things
- severe anxiety when attempting to discard things
- difficulty categorising or organising things
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)
- Involves obsessive thoughts about perceived faults in one’s physical appearance -
which are usually only minor defects or are imaginary
- Focused on the skin, around the face and the head, with the most disliked body parts
being : the skin, hair, nose
- 72% of people with BDD seek cosmetic surgery but because it is a psychological
disorder physical changes will not cure the person.
- Can also include constantly comparing one’s appearance to others
- Main features of BDD:
- A preoccupation with some imagined defect in appearance in a normal
appearing person.
- The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social,
occupational or other important areas of functioning.
- The preoccupation is not better accounted for by another mental disorder.
- Typical behaviours include :
- Camouflaging using body position, posture, makeup or clothing (91%)
- Comparing body parts with other (88%)
- Checking appearance in mirrors (87%)
Examples and case studies (charles, Rapoport, 1989)

- Charles was a 14 year old boy with OCD who started washing excessively. He
followed the same ritual in the shower which took him 3 hours and getting dressed
which took him another 2 hours. His mother contacted Rapoport when tis continued
for 4 years. Prior to this Charles was a student who was very interested in science. He
had to drop out of school and only has one friend because f his washing habits which
allowed him little time for other things. He underwent a drug trial for clomipramine (a
type of antidepressant), which gave effective relief of his symptoms; he was able to
pour honey, for instance. Yet after a year, he had developed a tolerance for his
medication. Charles relapsed and returned to ritualistic washing and dressing.