Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Essay -- Mental Health Disorders

Approximately five million people in the U.S., or about one in every 50 Americans, suffer from OCD. Thats about 2%, a substantial number of sufferers. It affects men, women, and children, as well as people of all races, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds.OCD is an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms that can include powerful, unwanted, or recurrent thoughts and/or compulsive, repetitive behaviors. Some of the most putting green obsessions areFear of contamination Fear of causing harm to another Fear of making a mistake Fear of behaving in a socially unacceptable manner Need for symmetry or exactness Excessive doubt Some of the most common compulsions may includeCleaning/ laundry Checking Arranging/Organizing Collecting/Hoarding Counting/Repeating Obsessions are unwanted, recurrent and unpleasant thoughts that cause anxiety. Compulsions are repetitive, ritualistic behaviors that the soul feels driven to perform to strike anxiety. At least 80 percent of patients with O CD energise both obsessions and compulsions. OCD appears to be caused by increased activity in the orbital frontal cortex and caudated nucleus of the brain. OCD may also involve abnormal functioning of the neurotransmitter seratonin in the brain. Stress does not cause OCD however, a stressful event can innovation the disorder. There are no hard facts to tell how OCD is obtained. OCD is thought to be a genetic disorder. This idea has plenty of evidence and is believed by most doctors. The chemic imbalance in the Brain is an imbalance of Seratonin and Dompamine. 80 percent of the people with OCD have another disorder called Tourettes Syndrome (TS). This syndrome is caused by the imbalance of Dompamine in the Brain. This causes the person to have muscular and/or verbal spasm which are called tics. Some people who are familiar with TS may think of people shaking wildly of adjuration a lot, but that is only in a severe case. These are a couple of examples, or case studies, that I go t off the internet.I. DickUp until this year, Dick had do fairly well in school, played basketball, held down a part epoch job cleaning a fish plant, and spent most weekends with his fille friend. Over the last year, he has had to let most of this go. His girlfriend found someone who had more time, he quit his job, and he stopped going to basketball. He could barely get his schoolwork done. Why? It excessivelyk... ...ment is a treatment in which the person is exposed to there obsession and go without fulfilling their compulsions. This kind of like lining your fear.In treating OCD with medications there are many medicines that are prescribed, here are five of the most common Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, and Anafranil. These medicines do not always work, but 60-80% of the time they do. Also these medicines do not just work right away. They have to take time to balance in the body. This usually takes about 6-8 weeks. A person is usually on one of these medicines for 12-18 months , but can be more or less. Support groups are few, yet one that I found on the Internet, called Emotions Annoymymous seemed to help alot of people, since this disease isnt well admitn by the general public, it is misunderstood, and the words obsessive-compulsive are used out of place far too frequently.My OpinionI think that OCD Is a common disorder that is underestimated and there are not enough people that are educated about it. The more people subsist about something, the less they are afraid of it. There are five million people that have it, I think more people should know about it, one in fifty people has it.