DISORDERS

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder:

Click here to listen to Dr. Karen Cassiday discuss treatment of OCD

Obsessive compulsive disorder affects approximately 1-2.5% of the adult population, with approximately 50-60% of those adults having symptoms that began during childhood. Approximately 2-3% of children and teens will develop OCD and it occurs equally among males and females.

OCD occurs when intrusive thoughts or images produce anxiety and the person then engages in behaviors to reduce the anxiety, called compulsions. Most teens and adults recognize that their obsessions do not make sense, but feel compelled to do their compulsions anyway in order to feel less anxious or uncomfortable. Many young children with OCD do not recognize their obsessions or compulsions as being ego dystonic, but instead feel compelled to give in to the OCD. Some of the more common forms of OCD are:

• fears of contamination and compulsive washing or cleaning
• distress about disorder or lack of symmetry and arranging or ordering compulsions
• fears of harm coming to others and compulsive checking and reassurance seeking pefectionism OCD
• intrusive sexual, blasphemous or sexual thoughts and avoidance and reassurance seeking compulsions, or ritualistic prayer
• compulsive hoarding of unneeded items, overwhelming quantities of clothing, house wares or other items such that the living space and/or workspace becomes very difficult to use or even unusable

Effective treatment of OCD involves exposure with response prevention therapy, cognitive therapy and possible pharmacotherapy. AATC specializes in treating both the milder and more severe forms of this disorder. Staff will train your patient to gradually face the situations and thoughts that provoke their OCD while learning how not to respond with rituals, compulsions, reassurance seeking or avoidance. We will accompany your patient into the situations that OCD makes difficult and help them learn how to get used to it without giving in to the OCD. If OCD hinders much of your patient’s daily life, then we will help them to undergo an intensive treatment program that involves 2-7sessions per week that may last several hours at a time. Research shows that this will give your patient the best chance to overcome OCD.

LEARN MORE

For more detailed information about OCD and the science behind the treatments that AATC offers, please click here:
Ocfoundation.org
OCDChicago.org
Adaa.org