The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Health |
| Managing compelling obsessions Posted: 29 Nov 2011 10:25 PM PST Obsessive compulsive disorder can destroy a person's life if it's not managed well. I RECENTLY read about Singaporeans having one of the highest rates of obsessive compulsive disorder in the world. In fact, one out of 33 Singaporeans suffer from it! What is obsessive compulsive disorder? Let's refer to obsessive compulsive disorder as OCD for our own ease. It's one of the anxiety disorders where a person experiences obsessions and/or compulsions repeatedly. This will interfere with his/her life and ability to function socially, at work, at school or anywhere else as a result of the amount of time he/she spends being obsessed or performing the compulsions. The person does not like having OCD – it causes marked distress in his/her life. OCD affects younger people, and men more than women. It usually manifests by age 30. What is an obsession? An obsession is a thought, impulse or image that recurs or persists in a person. The person knows these thoughts are irrational and suffers great anxiety for having them. A common example of an obsession is the fear of being dirty, or germs; or thinking your own children are monsters (for real); or always thinking you left the water heater switch or gas stove on. An example of an upsetting image that keeps on recurring is seeing a religious icon in a sexual manifestation. An example of an upsetting impulse is the thought of murdering your own children with the kitchen knife. What is a compulsion? A compulsion is a ritual or behaviour that the OCD person engages in repeatedly, usually as a result of his obsession. For example, if the person has an obsession about cleanliness, he may wash his hands repeatedly. If he is obsessed with thinking that he left the gas stove or water heater switch on, he may keep on checking whether he has done so. He may even be on a trip to Penang, and his obsession and compulsion may then make him turn his car back to the house just to check this. Other common compulsions include skin picking, repeatedly arranging items in a certain way or being obsessed about not stepping on cracks when you are walking on a pavement. People suffering from OCD are more likely to develop depression and other disorders like anorexia, bulimia, hair pulling, generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder. Isn't a compulsion considered a habit? Thre is a difference. A habit does not cause distress to the sufferer. A habit does not occur because of an obsession. The person with the habit doesn't think that his behaviour is irrational, unlike someone suffering from OCD. Examples of habits are nose picking, fingernail biting and knuckle cracking. What causes OCD? This is not really known, but people have noticed a genetic link, though a family member who has had OCD is not always a must. Another theory postulates that it's because you have an imbalance of serotonin in your brain. Can OCD be treated? Of course. You can go for psychotherapy, behavioural therapy, or be prescribed some antidepressants like the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). SSRIs are used for depression and anxiety as well. You may not be completely cured however. Milder OCD sufferers who have no other anxiety type disorders do the best with treatment. But the moderate to severe sufferers tend to have some OCD symptoms persisting for the rest of his/her life. These symptoms may sometimes improve, and sometimes escalate, depending on life stresses. How will I know if I have OCD? You can take a simple self-test with these questions: 1. Do you have distressing thoughts, impulses or images that upset you and happen in your mind over and over again? 2. Do these upsetting thoughts cause you great anxiety or distress? 3. Are these thoughts more than just simple worries about your real life problems? 4. Do you experience the feeling of not being able to stop or ignore these thoughts or images even when you try very hard to? 5. Do you believe that these thoughts, impulses or images are from your own mind? (This is important, because many schizophrenics have delusions that they believe have been put in their heads from outside sources.) 6. Do you find it difficult to stop yourself from doing certain things repeatedly, like washing your hands, checking on things, rearranging things, repeating certain words or actions? 7. Do you feel like something terrible will happen to you if you don't do these things? 8. Do these things that you think and do repeatedly take up more than one hour per day? 9. Do they interfere with your normal routine, social, work or school life? If you have answered yes to several of these, please see a psychologist or psychiatrist. Dr YLM graduated as a medical doctor, and has been writing for many years on various subjects such as medicine, health advice, computers and entertainment. For further information, e-mail starhealth@thestar.com.my. The information contained in this column is for general educational purposes only. Neither The Star nor the author gives any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to such information. The Star and the author disclaim all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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