Counseling Services of Barbara Reade, L.C.P.C.
Bel Air, Maryland 21014

Phone: 410-803-1510

Email: reade.lcpc@yahoo.com

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

• Do you experience obsessions or compulsions that take over an hour a day of your time?
• Do you experience obsessions or compulsions that are causing significant problems in your life?
• Are these behaviors excessive or unreasonable in nature?
• Do these symptoms occur when you are not using any substances that could affect your thinking or functioning?
• Do you know that they are not caused by a medical condition?

If these symptoms sound familiar to you, you may want to consult a professional for further evaluation.

Definitions:

Obsessions are persistent ideas, thoughts, impulsive actions, or visual images that intrude on your normal thoughts or actions and cause significant distress or anxiety. The content of these experiences feels out of the person's control. These are NOT just excessive worries about real-life problems and usually are not related to real-life experiences. People usually try to ignore or suppress what is occurring or neutralizing it ( like repeatedly checking and turning off the stove or light).

Compulsions are repetitive actions ( e.g. hand washing, checking, ordering) or mental acts (e.g. counting or repeating a word silently) to prevent anxiety or stress. Often this is done to reduce the anxiety caused by an obsessive thought or idea.These behaviors are clearly obsessive or not realistic in remedying whatever the underlying problem is (ex: locking the door 14 times).

Often people avoid whatever stimulating situations trigger their obsessions. Pervasive avoidance may leave a person housebound.

People with depressive and anxiety disorders may experience this disorder also. Also those with Tourette's Disorder have a high incidence of this occurring. Current or past ticks may also be present.

Serontonin agonists may cause increased symptoms for certain individuals.

This disorder appears equally in men and women.

Usually this disorder starts gradually, in late adolescence or early adulthood. Occasionally this does begin in childhood. Symptoms seem to wax and wane for most people with this problem. There may be a genetic component to this disorder, as shown by certain twin studies,  however further study is needed to make this conclusive. 

It is important to have this problem diagnosed by a competent professional as these symptoms can be caused by many other mental as well as physical disorders. Check with your physician, Licensed, master degreed professional counselor, psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed, master degreed, social worker for further assistance.

Treatment usually involves medication prescribed by a psychiatrist, and counseling to help people regain a sense of self control, reduce anxiety, and reduce or eliminate inappropriate thinking processes.