OCD essays

OCD essays An estimated four million Americans have Obsessive-compulsive disorder, which includes 1,000,000 children and adolescents. These people with OCD are slaves to their rituals, and their rituals begin to take over their lives. Stephanie, an eighteen year old, had trouble with math because of her OC D. If I got to number seventeen on the math test, I would have to tap my pencil seventeen times. (Weiskopf, Catherine. Understanding Obsessive-compulsive disorders.) Stephanies situation shows that obsessive-compulsive disorder influences the development of children. Children and adolescents with OCD end up with emotional and social developmental problems. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an unrelenting pattern of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted ideas or thoughts that repeatedly are on the individuals mind. Typical obsessions are fear of dirt or contamination; concern with order; constantly thinking about certain images, sounds, words, or numbers; and fear of harming a family member or a loved one. Compulsions are preformed intentionally to reduce the anxiety or discomfort brought on by obsessions. Common compulsions are excessive hand washing, checking to make sure of something repeatedly, arranging items in precise order, counting over and over, and touching certain objects several times. The exact causes of Obsessive-compulsive disorder are unclear, but an adequate amount of evidence shows that the illness is linked to a disturbance in the functioning of the brain. An imbalance of serotonin (a naturally occurring brain chemical) is thought to be a cause of OCD. There is evidence to suggest that a particular circuit in the brain is involved in OCD. Other research has indicated that the volume of certain structures within the brain may be greater in individuals with OCD than in those without the disorder. Psychiatric disorders such as depression, Tourette Sy...