OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER Can you imagine walking down the street passing a building, and not being able to go on your way until you have counted every window in the building? How about trying to leave your house, but it takes you about one and a half to two hours to leave because you keep checking and checking to make sure the windows and doors are locked? These are just a few instances of how people act that have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). People that have OCD find it hard to lead normal lives. They tend to suffer from recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and perform the same rituals (compulsions) that they feel that they cannot control. The rituals or compulsions they have can be anything from washing their hands over and over, to counting, or even cleaning. People who suffer from OCD can only ease their anxiety by performing these rituals. The obsessive or intrusive thoughts are what cause people to behave in this manner. OCD is a very real, chronic, often severe condition unless treated that can result in considerable long-term suffering.What causes OCD? It was thought in the past that OCD was caused by some kind of biological or psychological vulnerability. (Durand and Barlow 2000.) Psychologists are now starting to lean towards the growing evidence that OCD represents abnormal functioning of brain circuitry, probably involving a part of the brain called the striatum. (NIMH 2000.) OCD is not caused by family problems or attitudes learned in childhood or by a belief that certain thoughts are dangerous and unacceptable. Doctors have been experimenting with clients that have OCD and clients that don’t have it. They have been using positron emission tomography (PET) to compare people with and without OCD. Clients that have OCD tend to have patterns of brain activity that differ from people who have another mental illness or people with no mental illness. The PET scans show that patients that ...
