Symptoms
Obsessions and compulsions
Usually people with OCD experience obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are characterized with undesired images and ideas that keep on being on the person’s thoughts. They are associated with having fear to cause harm in anyway. Some obsessions include being completely obsessed with tidiness and orderliness. Compulsion is the urge to do something repeatedly in order to ease the anxiety, such as repeating words, cleaning, and counting.
Overall, the symptoms include checking, washing, and cleaning excessively, not being able to get rid of unwanted thoughts, and being obsessed with having things done perfectly. For example, excessively washing hands may lead to them bleeding. These symptoms also cause stress and doubt. Some might even be afraid of shaking other people’s hands in fear of getting them dirty.
Treatment
One of the most important steps to treat OCD is to become aware of the disorder, and to be educated about it. In addition, a study found that the most affective type of treatment is cognitive behavior therapy, a type of psychotherapy. This method is especially effective with children. During the therapy, the patient is put to face his or her fears in order to overcome them. Also, some doctors recommend taking drugs that contain serotonin, such as antidepressants, which are effective for all ages.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence reviewed 17 adults and found that cognitive behavior therapy is the most effective treatment, and it is effective with young age if family support is present. According to Heyman, I., Mataix-Cols, D., & Fineberg, N. A. (2006), “the specific psychological technique most strongly associated with good outcome in studies of cognitive behavior therapy is exposure and response prevention, which has response rates of up to 85% in patients who complete the therapy” (p. 427).
As technology and research expands, there will hopefully be more treatments to fully cure OCD.