Summary on lecture Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), module Understanding Mental Health, course Psychology. The notes are summarised in preparation for end of semester MCQ test. I passed the test with 1st (A+).
Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
• The DSM 5 includes a new category of disorders called obsessive-compulsive (OC)
and related disorders which we focus on today.
• OC and related disorders are defined by repetitive thoughts and behaviours which
are so extreme that they interfere in everyday life.
• OC and related disorders includes some disorders we will not discuss today such as
Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Hoarding Disorder.
• Today we shall only focus on OC disorder (OCD).
Changes from DSM 4
• OCD was classed as an anxiety disorder in the DSM 4, and people with OCD do often
experience anxiety as a result of their OCD, and may have a comorbid anxiety
disorders in addition to OCD.
• The risk factors for anxiety disorders and treatments for anxiety disorders also
overlap with those for OCD.
• However, OCD is seen as having a distinct cause compared to other anxiety disorders
and therefore was placed into a new category in the DSM 5.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Obsessions
- The occurrence of unwanted, intrusive thoughts or images (e.g., causing harm to
someone you love).
• Compulsions
- Repetitive behaviours/rituals or mental acts/rituals performed to undo or neutralise
the obsessive thought or image or as a way of preventing some dreaded event of
situation.
Examples of obsessions
, • Doubt ‘Did I lock the door’ (M, 28)
• Thought that he had cancer (M, 46)
• Thought/image that he had knocked someone down in his car (M, 29)
• Impulse + thought to shout obscenities in church (F, 19)
• Image of corpse rotting away (F, 27)
• Impulse to drink from inkpot and to strangle son (M, 41)
Examples of compulsions
• Compulsive Checking (e.g. of doors and
windows).
• Compulsive Cleaning (to prevent contamination
and infection).
• Superstitious Ritualized Movements or Thoughts (e.g. counting backwards until a
thought has gone).
Systematic Arranging of Objects.
Linking Obsessions and Compulsions
• Obsessions and compulsions are intrinsically linked.
• Once an intrusive thought has occurred, or an obsession has been triggered, this
provokes anxiety and distress.
• An obsession usually has an associated compulsion that serves the function of
preventing and reducing this distress in some way and/or preventing some dreaded
event or situation.
Diagnostic criteria: OCD 1
• A: Presence of obsessions, compulsions or both.
Obsessions defined by (1) and (2):
1: Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that are experienced, at some
time during the disturbance, as intrusive and unwanted and in most individuals cause
marked anxiety or distress.
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