The LIGHT Center, T-90, College of the Redwoods (476-4290) - May 8, 2000

How many times have you turned around on your way to work to go home and check to make sure you unplugged the iron? Have you ever known anyone who has to have the medicine cabinet contents lined up "just so"? It is normal to have some of these behaviors. They fall into the category of doubts, superstition, or just worries. It is when the brain gets "stuck" on one of these ideas that the limits of what is normal are tested. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is the result of an information processing disorder that is manifested in repetitive or senseless behaviors.

OCD can occur at any age; however, a third to half of cases emerge in childhood. In most cases the disorder becomes evident before the age of 40. Unfortunately, OCD is difficult to diagnose. Research suggests that on the average, it takes 17 years from the time the disorder manifests itself to the time of appropriate treatment. Part of the problem is that the cause of OCD remains unknown. There have been no specific genes identified which are responsible for the disorder. There is only a slightly higher risk of developing OCD if your parent developed it. Imaging research suggests that that OCD is the result of communication problems between the frontal lobe of the brain and the basal ganglia. Serotonin appears to be implicated. Sound familiar? This neurotransmitter appears to be crucial in a number of psychiatric conditions.

OCD is characterized by two groups of behaviors, obsessions and compulsions. While a person with OCD need not have both groups of symptoms, it is more typical than one or the other is present.

Thoughts, impulses or images that occur over and over again are considered to be obsessions. These are thoughts that the person feels are, "out of their control", and therefore disturbing and disruptive. Even though they are recognized as not really making sense, the person seems unable to inhibit the recurrence of the thought. Obsessions are usually accompanied by feelings such as fear, doubt, or disgust.

These are acts that the person with OCD engages in to try to eliminate their obsessive thinking. Thus, the behaviors are repeated over and over again. Compulsive acts for the person with OCD are only performed for relief from the obsessive thought patterns and can seriously disrupt virtually all aspects of one’s life.

OCD ends up taking inordinate amounts of time for the sufferer. Even though the person is aware that the behaviors and thoughts are unreasonable, they are unable to inhibit them.

Comments? mailto:trish-blair@redwoods.edu

"Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish,
a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and
carefree as a dog."

We have all heard of compulsive behaviors such as Lady MacBeth's hand-washing+. This is one of the more common behaviors exhibited by a person with OCD. Below are some of the common obsessions and subsequent compulsions seen in an OCD patient:

Contamination fears of germs, dirt

Washing

Example: Repeated hand washing.

Image of having harmed someone.

Compulsion:

Repeating

Example: Repeated driving around the block to make sure no one was hit upon exiting the driveway.

Forbidden thoughts

Compulsion:

Ordering or arranging

Example: An irrational need to order the china in the cabinet, the bottles in the medicine cabinet, or the shoes in the closet.

Obsession 4:

Excessive religious or moral doubt

Compulsion:

Counting

Example: A senseless compulsion to count objects for no apparent reason.

Individuals with OCD experience concomitant conditions. Depression, substance abuse and tic disorders are common. Within the last 20 years, treatment for OCD has involved a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication.