Mental health awareness month: obsessive- compulsive disorder and personality disorder (OCD)-(OCPD).

Remember this: people diagnosed with  OCD have higher level of determination, they have naturally a good memory and they’re doubly as compelled to learn new things.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he/she feels the urge to repeat a lot of times everyday. So it’s a mental health condition characterized by distressing, intrusive, obsessive thoughts and repetitive, compulsive physical or mental acts.

 

Millions of people are affected by OCD.  Current estimates are that approximately 1 in 40 adults in the U.S. (about 2.3% of the population) and 1 in 100 children have this condition.

• 2.2 million, 1.0%
  Equally common among men and women.
  The median age of beginning is 19, with 25 percent of cases occurring by age 14. One-third of affected adults first experienced symptoms in childhood

Symptoms.

• Fear of germs or contamination;
• unwanted forbidden or taboo thoughts involving sex, religion;
• having things symmetrical or in a perfect order;
• excessive cleaning and/or handwashing;
• ordering and arranging things in a particular, precise way;
• repeatedly checking on things, such as repeatedly checking to see if the door is locked or that the oven is off.
• tic disorder: these are sudden and brief such as eye blinking and other eye movements or facial grimacing;
• repetitive thoughts, images, or urges that they do not feel able to control;
• the person is aware of these intrusive thoughts and feelings and does not want to have these ideas.

Other conditions sharing some features of OCD occur more frequently in family members of OCD patients. These include body dysmorphic disorder (preoccupation with imagined ugliness), hypochondriasis (preoccupation with physical illness), trichotillomania (hair pulling), some eating disorders such as binge eating disorder, and  Tourette’s syndrome.

The causes  can be genetic or they depend on the structure of the brain and the enviroment.

• Genetic: family studies have shown that people with first-degree relatives (such as a parent, sibling) who have OCD are at a higher risk for developing OCD themselves;
• brain structure:  there appears to be a connection between the OCD symptoms and abnormalities in certain areas of the brain, but that connection is still not clear;
• enviroment: people who have experienced abuse  in childhood or other trauma are at an increased risk for developing OCD.

 

Treatments and Therapies.

First-line treatments for OCD will include:

• CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy);
• SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors);
• a combination of SSRI and CBT.

 

CBT

CBT is a type of psychotherapy (talking therapy) that aims to help the patient change the way they think, feel, and behave. It refers to two treatments:

• exposure and response prevention (ERP). They talk about what they’ve felt and how to prevent to reduce anxiety;
• cognitive therapy. People participate in CT work eliminating compulsive behaviours.

 

 

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder looks entirely different from OCD at first glance. Typical symptoms include:

• Being excessively fixated with lists, rules and details;
• being inflexible when it comes to rules, morals or ethical codes;
• having a sense of pefectionism that interferes with completing tasks;
• being obsessed with work and working so much that it interferes with relationships and social activities;
• an inability to be generous.

Like all personality disorders, OCPD can be thought of as an extreme exaggeration of a certain personality style. Many of us likely know someone who is somewhat like this.It’s only a personality disorder when it is so extreme that it interferes with daily life.

Treatments.

The treatments for OCPD are similar to the treatments for OCD and may include antidepressants, psychotherapy and relaxation exercises.

The differences.

Although they may seem similar, Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) is a different condition from the more commonly known Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD is often characterized by a repetition or adherence to rituals. OCPD is characterized more by an unhealthy adherence to perfectionism.

If you look hard, you can see why OCD and OCPD have similar names. Both involve the tendency to obsess and to act compulsively. OCD is an illness that can develop at different points in life. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder must have begun by early adulthood. It refers to a deeply embedded personality style, rather than to a set of acute symptoms that get in the way.

Maybe the biggest difference between OCD and OCPD is that while people with OCD do not want to have the troubling thoughts they have and they realize that those thoughts are irrational and unreasonable, those with OCPD believe their thinking and behavior is perfectly rational. Many people with OCPD don’trealize they need treatment, but people with OCD often realize they need help to deal with the overwhelming thoughts. OCD affects everything in the sufferer’s life, including work/school, relationships and functioning, while OCPD tends to only affect interpersonal relationships.

I think these sites can be useful:

•  https://iocdf.org/about-ocd/finding-help/
• https://www.mind.org.uk/
• http://www.ocdaction.org.uk/
• http://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/ocdpersonality.html

 

STOP THE STIGMA.

-Stefania