| Obsessive compulsive disorder, other wise known as OCD is a disorder in which a person has unwanted, intrusive, frightening thoughts. These thoughts can cause a person to preform rituals to decrease the anxiety, or uncomfortabilty they are feeling. Including washing themselves or their environment. Counting things a number of times. Checking and rechecking things, such as the oven to make sure they turned it off, or the locks on the door to make sure that they didn't leave them unlocked. The obsessive thought of what might happen if that person left the door unlocked or the oven on can cause this person a great deal of anxiety, which causes that peson to act compulsively. This behavior can lead to tardiness, procastionation, prefrectionsim, indecision, and life diffculties. People who suffer OCD are born with it. Sometimes it takes a tramtic event to trigger the on set of OCD. OCD effects about 5 million americans. The disorder is just as likely to strike men as women, and children as well as elderly. OCD is very controllable. With treatment, up to 80% of OCD suffers improve significantly. The most effective treatment for OCD is behavioral and drug therapy, expecially when the two are used together. Some of the most effective medications for OCD are Zoloft, Paxil, and Luvox. |
