8
&
January 2016 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder Manifested
by Repetitive
Behaviors
Symptoms worsen during
times of stress
By Dr. Tom Miller, Staff Writer
Perhaps you
have noticed a
family member or
friend showing an
unusual pattern of behavior, marked
by counting cracks in the sidewalk,
saving old newspapers stacked in
meaningless piles or checking locks
over and over before leaving their
home. You realize the person has
an unusual attachment to these
behaviors. They might be suffering
from obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD).
The Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.org) provides an excellent resource
to learn more about this condition.
The clinic says OCD is an anxiety
disorder characterized by unreasonable, repeated, persistent and
unwanted ideas, thoughts and fears
(obsessions) that lead a person to do
repetitive behaviors (compulsions). A
person with OCD may realize these
obsessions aren’t reasonable and may
try to ignore or stop them, but that
only increases the perso