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Sara Steckler

Mrs.Teevan

Health

June 16, 2019

Getting to Know OCD

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder also known as OCD means the need to have order and

perfection. OCD falls under the category of anxiety disorders. The disorder can be developed

over time as a way to deal with anxiety. It can be caused by environmental factors like a child

developing the same behavior as a parent, and it can also be passed down through genetics. Some

signs that someone has OCD is they have a constant need for order, they clean excessively, they

pay close attention to detail, and in some cases can have thoughts about harming themselves or

others. Some risks to the disorder is that they can develop anxiety and depression which can

causes greater issues like anorexia, drug abuse, and suicide. OCD is caused by a brain function

that performs differently when someone has OCD. For someone without OCD they can have a

thought and then forget about it, but someone with OCD can not just forget. Instead the thought

sticks in their brain and to solve it they have to perform rituals to fix it. OCD can be treated

through medicines like clomipramine and paroxetine. OCD also can be treated by behavior

therapy known as “exposure and response”, it is an exercise in which the person with OCD is

exposed to the triggers and has to learn how to avoid doing their coping rituals. The disorder is

normally developed in young adulthood. 60% to 70% of kids improve from treatment. The

disorder can affect men and women equally. 1 in 40 adults and 1 in 100 children face OCD in the

U.S. and it affects 2% of the total population. Some resources that can help with OCD are the

international OCD Foundation, OCD Challenge, The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Institute,
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and OCD Youth Forums. During my research on OCD I discovered a blog wriitten by a teenage

girl named Charlotte who struggles with OCD and blogs about it to help herself and others cope

with the disorder. As part of her struggle with OCD she would get these intrusive thoughts about

taking someone’s life, the more she would try to forget them the more she would have them. To

cope with this she started doing rituals to make the thoughts go away. She then developed

anorexia as a way to be able to try to control the thoughts, but it only made things worse. She

started to get help and is now doing better now, but she still struggles with the intrusive thoughts.

There are celebrities that have OCD like Daniel Radcliffe, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo Dicaprio,

Megan Fox, and Justin Timberlake. On average, people get diagnosed at 19. Many people

believe that if someone loves cleaning it means that they have OCD, but really most don’t it's

just a chore that they have to do or they will have anxiety. Many people also believe that OCD is

not a big deal and the people with it just need to relax, but they cannot help but have terrible

anxiety when something is not the way they need it to be.

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Work cited

Owen Kelly. “verywellmind.com”. April 02, 2019. June 12, 2019.

National Institutes of Health. “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, OCD”. National Institution of

Mental Health. June 12, 2019.

Pat F., Beth W .Orenstien. “everydayhealth”. October 13, 201. June 12, 2019.

Kaartik Gupta. “practo”. July 9, 2018. June 12, 2019