Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Case Studies

This case pertains to a 14-year-old female called Lady MacBeth of undisclosed ethnicity who has been undergoing treatment in an inpatient facility for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The client reported that her symptoms began during the year prior to her admission into the facility. Her treatment seems to have progressed successfully.
Diagnosis
In order to be diagnosed with OCD, an individual has to have symptoms of either obsessions or compulsions (or both) which consume more than one hour per day “or cause clinically significant distress or impairment in…important areas of functioning” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 237). Prior to treatment, Lady MacBeth exhibited both obsessions and compulsions, and her symptoms caused debilitating and disfiguring consequences. For example, she persistently washed her hands with rubbing alcohol in the midst of winter until they bled. She continued with this degree of handwashing regardless of how it made her hands look or what others
A hyperactive orbitofrontal cortex, hyperactive basal ganglia regions, and dysfunctional serotonin activity are all associated with OCD (Gorbis, O’Neill, Sterner, Yip, & Molnar, n.d.; Neer & Ragsdale, 2014). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), therefore, have been proven to be an effective mode of treatment for OCD when combined with behavioral therapies (NICE, 2006, in Neer & Ragsdale, 2014). Although there is no indication that Lady MacBeth was prescribed an SSRI during her inpatient stay, an SSRI may help with the self-management of her symptoms. Familial considerations. There is evidence of behavioral “transmission” of OCD from one generation to the next–especially from family members who experienced the onset of symptoms in adolescence (APA, 2013). Lady MacBeth mentioned that neatness and extreme cleanliness have “always” characterized her mother and her mother’s sides of the family, which