Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - for the first time can occur after the child reaches 10 years. First it manifests itself as a kind of phobia , obsession, and a person is able to see the irrationality of his anxiety and cope with it. In the future, self-control is lost, the condition is aggravated.
Obsessive-compulsive syndrome
Obsessive-compulsive disorder or syndrome is an obsession neurosis, during which a person is obsessed by an alarming thought or idea and performs compulsive (compulsive) actions. The disorder can be single-component, or obsessional - emotional, or compulsive - with ritual obsessions. It manifests itself in different ways:
- episodically;
- progresses year by year;
- persistent chronic.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - causes
Everything has its own reason - and compulsive behavior with obsessions is no exception. Medical specialists and psychologists put forward many theories of the onset of the disease. Obsessive-compulsive disorder - predisposing factors and causes:
- disturbance of homeostasis and general metabolism ;
- hormonal disorders;
- the consequences of severe craniocerebral trauma;
- infectious diseases;
Other reasons:
- strict moral and religious upbringing;
- complex relationships with people;
- low stress resistance.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - symptoms
The main symptom of compulsive disorder is this or that obtrusive state, repetitive thoughts, the themes of which can be different. Signs and symptoms of the disorder:
- the state of unreasonable anxiety, preceding obsessive thoughts;
- ritual behavior - obsessive movements aimed at eliminating anxiety;
- an increase in anxiety in crowded places to a state of panic;
- physiologically manifested: increased heart rate, difficulty breathing, pallor of the skin, cold sweating.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - examples
All people are experiencing fatigue, stress, disturbing thoughts that pop up, they are scrolled in the head for a while, but after a good rest, the intensity decreases, the person solves the problem and anxiety as it has not happened. Otherwise, everything happens with true compulsions and obsessions, they are cyclical, gaining strength and fixed on a "permanent basis."
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - examples from life:
- fear of contamination with microbes - a person is afraid to touch door handles, cranes, handrails of public transport;
- fear of possible dangers (robbery, murder, rape);
- repeated checks: whether the door is locked, gas, iron, light off (come back from work to check again);
- superstition - a person will not leave the house without a certain ritual, reading the prayer;
- obsessive thoughts of a sexual nature with elements of cruelty - a person avoids intimacy due to fear of harming a partner.
Obsessive compulsive disorder - consequences
Compulsive-obsessive disorder affects unfavorably the daily life of a person, obsessive thoughts and actions complicate relationships with loved ones, the person is fatigued himself. Among people suffering from this neurotic illness, a large percentage of the unemployed - a person is sometimes just afraid to leave the house, becomes disabled because of their fears. Personal life also crashes.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - treatment
How to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder - to this question, psychotherapists often respond that without determining the cause that caused the disease to achieve remission or cure "permanently" - it will not be possible. When all stress factors are identified, the doctor prescribes complex treatment: drug therapy and long-term psychological support. Obsessive-compulsive anxiety disorder is successfully treated if a person ceases to rely on an independent outcome of an ailment, to avoid disturbing situations.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - treatment at home
Obsessions or compulsions are difficult to self-correct - this is the case when you seek help from a specialist is right. Man pushes himself into a vicious circle from breakdown to failure and begins to hate himself for the weakness shown and the lack of self-control even more. But do not give up, even if the breakdowns happen. On the example of overeating, which is common both among women and men, it is possible to consider the tactics of combating obsessive disorder at home.
Compulsive overeating - how to fight alone, steps:
- work with thinking - affirmations ;
- disposal of harmful products - refined, high-carbohydrate food should be ruthlessly excluded from the diet;
- exercise - moderate physical activity increases stress resistance and increases the number of own endorphins;
- keeping a food diary - it should contain all the products eaten per day - it helps to analyze and fix by consciousness how much and what food is eaten;
- breathing practices and meditations - balance the mental state;
- full sleep .
Obsessive-compulsive disorder - hospitalization
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder - an ailment rarely requires hospital treatment unless accompanied by a person's personal schizotypic, paranoid character traits, then the course and prognosis worsen. In general, inpatient treatment is indicated. Obsessive-compulsive disorder - the tactics of patient management includes:
- Psychotherapy . Cognitive-behavioral approach allows you to analyze situations that provoke anxiety and panic and learn how to manage your state. The patient is exposed to a real or imaginary stimulus, and with the help of a therapist learns to interrupt the response, forming a new behavioral pattern. The longer the interaction with provoking stimuli, the more effectively the new behavior is fixed. Independently, without drug treatment, psychotherapy is rarely successful in treating OCD.
- Pharmacotherapy . Obsessive-compulsive behavioral disorder severely depletes the human nervous system and medication sometimes - the only option to relieve the condition. Drugs of choice in the treatment of OCD:
- antidepressants of wide application (Clomipramine, Lithium, Buspirone);
- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (sertraline, fluvoxamine, fluoxetine).