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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

 

Some people with OCD have organized rituals while others have rituals that are complex and changing. Performing rituals may give the person with OCD some relief from anxiety, but it is only temporary.
             "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder typically begins during adolescence or early childhood; at least one-third of the cases of adult OCD began in childhood." (NIMI 1999) OCD affects children and adolescents during a very important period of social development. Like depression, OCD tends to worsen as the person grows older.
             Most people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder struggle to force out their unwanted, obsessive thoughts and do everything they can to prevent themselves from engaging in compulsive behaviors. Many are able to keep their obsessive-compulsive symptoms under control during the hours when they are at work or attending school. Yet over months or years, resistance may weaken, and when this happens, OCD may become so severe that time-consuming rituals take over these peoples lives, making it impossible for them to continue activities outside the home. People with OCD often try to hide their disorder rather than seek help. Often they are successful in concealing their obsessive-compulsive symptoms from friends and coworkers. This means that most people with this disorder usually do not receive the professional help that they need until years after the onset of the disease. By this time, they have already learned to work their lives and the lives of their families around these chronic rituals.
             At some point during the corse of this disorder, the people with OCD recognize that the obsessions and compulsions are excessive or unreasonable. "A common fear of persons with OCD is that they are crazy. On the contrary, most persons with this disorder are very much in .
             touch with reality and understand that they cannot control their anxiety-producing obsessions and compulsions."(Lutz 2002) .


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