Ocd Research Paper
Often Overlooked: What’s Causing Adolescent Compulsive Behavior?
______________________
Southern Illinois University EPSY 412
July 25, 2011
Often Overlooked, What’s Causing Adolescent Compulsive Behavior? If you are constantly washing your hands, counting your steps, or impulsively repeating tasks in life, perhaps you are always counting things or checking things. If these actions are taking over your life or constantly occupying your mind, perhaps you have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD may not be as rare as originally thought. All children have worries and doubts, but children with OCD often can't stop worrying, no matter how much they want to. And those worries frequently force them to behave in certain ways over and over again. OCD is an anxiety disorder that is described as someone with obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behavior. People with OCD are caught up in repetitive behavior and thoughts that they cannot stop. Obsession is often unwanted, recurrent, and disturbing thoughts that a person cannot stop and can result in severe anxiety. Impulses are the result of the obsession. These are repetitive, ritualized behaviors done to alleviate the anxiety caused by the obsession. The most common obsessions are fear 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, and excessive doubt. The most common compulsions are cleaning, washing, checking, arranging, organizing, collecting, hoarding, and counting or repeating. Children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder become preoccupied with whether something could be harmful, dangerous, wrong, or dirty. With OCD, upsetting or scary thoughts or images (called obsessions), pop into a person's mind and are hard to shake. Children with OCD may also worry about things being out of "order" or not "just right." They may worry about losing "useless"
______________________
Southern Illinois University EPSY 412
July 25, 2011
Often Overlooked, What’s Causing Adolescent Compulsive Behavior? If you are constantly washing your hands, counting your steps, or impulsively repeating tasks in life, perhaps you are always counting things or checking things. If these actions are taking over your life or constantly occupying your mind, perhaps you have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD may not be as rare as originally thought. All children have worries and doubts, but children with OCD often can't stop worrying, no matter how much they want to. And those worries frequently force them to behave in certain ways over and over again. OCD is an anxiety disorder that is described as someone with obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behavior. People with OCD are caught up in repetitive behavior and thoughts that they cannot stop. Obsession is often unwanted, recurrent, and disturbing thoughts that a person cannot stop and can result in severe anxiety. Impulses are the result of the obsession. These are repetitive, ritualized behaviors done to alleviate the anxiety caused by the obsession. The most common obsessions are fear 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, and excessive doubt. The most common compulsions are cleaning, washing, checking, arranging, organizing, collecting, hoarding, and counting or repeating. Children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder become preoccupied with whether something could be harmful, dangerous, wrong, or dirty. With OCD, upsetting or scary thoughts or images (called obsessions), pop into a person's mind and are hard to shake. Children with OCD may also worry about things being out of "order" or not "just right." They may worry about losing "useless"