Describe the symptoms, proposed causes and treatments associated with one of the following anxiety disorders: A. Social Phobia; B. Panic Disorder; C: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Refer to psychological theory and evidence.
Have you ever noticed an individual for example, checks if the gas is off and on again? Or is there someone in your family who gets uncomfortable when certain objects are not organised? This is what OCD could do to a person. OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder, where an individual has obsessional thoughts, impulses, images and doubts. When obsessions triggers, the individual performs compulsive action, in term of what the individual is thinking and what he is trying to do. This essay will describe obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, how an individual began to develop OCD and what kind of treatments are there to control the individual distress and anxiety, which is caused by OCD.
One of the main symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder is being obsessive. Unwanted images and thoughts keep recurring in the mind. For most individuals, the thoughts that keep recurring can lead to anxiety and distress (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Although an individual cannot only stop the obsessions from coming, they also feel that they have the power to prevent accidents from happening (Veale and Willson, 2005). Thus the individual performs compulsive actions to defuse them with other thoughts and actions to ignore the images, thoughts, doubts and urges (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). For example, ‘there might be a fly in my food (thought’); ‘I could catch a disease and die’ (possible appraisal); ‘check all food carefully’ (compulsion) (Challacombe, Oldfield & Salkvoskis, 2011).
An individual may perform repetitive behaviour, which is also known as compulsion. For instance a person wash his hand for numerous times, counting, ordering, checking or repeating words. The individual is driven to perform these obsessional behaviours and the obsessionals act are aimed at avoiding or decreasing distress, anxiety and sometimes dreadful situations (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). For example, “I have to be completely sure that I have not allowed something bad to happen” (Challacombe et al, 2011, p. 39). The compulsions make its own point as a reaction motivates by how a person has interpreted the obsessions. For example, ‘there might be a fly in my food’ (thoughts), ‘have I left the door open’ (doubts), ‘dad dead in a car crash’ (images) or ‘I must touch that or I won’t feel right (urges) (Challacombe et al, 2011).
Furthermore, the obsessional thoughts or compulsions are time consuming. An individual may take one hour a day and this could lead to high distress, therefore, it impairs a person from functioning social life, relationships, family life, hobbies and the ability to work (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A person with OCD might convince his partner to avoid touching objects around the house or wash excessively when she have touched something. These kinds of restriction lead to anger and prevent the relationship from growing (Veale and Willson, 2005).
Researches has supported the biological explanations of OCD by using brain scans that show increased activity in the frontal lobes of the brain of individuals with OCD, compared to individuals who do not have OCD (Veale and Willson, 2005). Biological explanations focuses on the role of serotonin in OCD. Serotonin is a chemical that occurs in the nervous system, and it has many roles of aspects in the human brain such as appetite, sexual desire and mood (Veale and Willson, 2005). In addition, researches describe OCD as having a ‘neurobiological’ cause. This means, with a neurological illness like migraine is that it may reduce stigma (Veale and Willson, 2005).
OCD can be inherited and passed on. Studies have shown that five per cent of the close by family of somebody with OCD are also likely to develop OCD at some time in
