Obsessive-compulsive disorder is also colloquially calledobsessive compulsive disorder. In everyday life, everyone can feel anxious, panicky and obsessive about certain situations. Many people try to fight these feelings and resolve them without leaving bad traces in their lives. However, some people do not lose their sense of reality and may have obsessive thoughts even though they know they are unrealistic. If the person is not treated, their work life, social life, school and family life will be badly affected.
Rumination and obsession are the two medical terms forobsession and obsession . The English equivalent of rumination is mental ruminating. In other words, it is when a thought repeats itself. Rumination is also called an obsession, and another name for it is obsession. Compulsion is the state of having a behavior that follows the obsession.
What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a psychiatric disorder that occurs when obsessive thoughts affect a person's daily life. This disorder has more than one name. One of them is an obsession and the other is a preoccupation.
Vesvese consists of two dimensions as concrete and abstract. The abstract dimension is stated as the dimension that does not find a response in the brain. When it is said that 'the devil is giving you whims', the dimension that does not have a biological equivalent in the brain is mentioned much more. This idea here shows a function of the brain.
Just as the human liver produces bile, the brain has to produce thoughts and feelings. The forebrain comes into play and turns thought into behavior.
Obsessions, that is, ideas, thoughts and impulses that the person cannot keep away from the brain, develop involuntarily. Even though the individual sees them as beyond his/her logic, he/she cannot stop thinking about them. This causes a lot of distress and restlessness, which in turn causes anxiety.
In the human brain there is a file of indelible information that has been approved. The brain records them there. Then, if the person repeats these thoughts and confirms them, they become a habit, and if they keep repeating them, they become a personality. This repetitive process continues for approximately 6 months.
It usually covers adolescence and 20-30s, but it can occur in any age range, including childhood. It is more common in women.
Symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Individuals withobsessive compulsions need to change the focus of attention. The more you struggle with obsessive thoughts, the more they multiply. When the thought comes to mind, if the problem has not grown, it can be solved, but if the individual does not know how to manage his/her thoughts in a healthy way, he/she may need to seek clinical help. A small level of fear, anxiety that is under control is beneficial. However, when there is intense fear, the individual's freedom is under the influence of fear. This situation increases the belief that some negative situations will occur in the inner world. The person obsessively believes in that situation and may start to exhibit behaviors that restrict his/her life. These obsessive thoughts can also manifest themselves with symptoms of obsessive compulsion. The symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder are as follows;
- Intense anxiety and constant need to trust
- Symmetry, order and the desire for perfection
- Fear of acting in a socially unacceptable way or of being disgraced
- Willingness not to make mistakes
- Do not hesitate to harm another person
- Fear of passing on microbial things
- Not shaking hands, not being able to hold the door knob
- Continuously cleaning hands
- Accumulating worthless items
- Doing things that need to be done in a certain order
- Repeating specified words, prayers
- Being fixated on images, phrases or thoughts that are disturbing, memorable and interfere with sleep
- Eating meals in a certain order
- Organizing household or personal belongings in a specified way
- Repeating aloud or internally while carrying out daily tasks
- Continuously checking items that should be closed such as door locks, oven, iron, electricity
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Treatment
There is no laboratory test for the diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The diagnosis of the disorder is determined by a knowledgeable psychiatrist specialist by observing the patient's movements and examining the symptoms. Early diagnosis is very important for the successful treatment of the disease. Medication and cognitive behavioral therapy are used together.
Cognitive behavior therapy: The aim of this therapy method is to prevent the obsessive behaviors of the sufferers and make them face their fears. In this way, it is aimed to reduce people's anxiety. With cognitive behavioral therapy , which focuses on reducing the exaggerated catastrophic thoughts of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder, it is aimed to keep the patient away from thoughts that the patient sees as real.
Drug treatment: Antidepressant medications and medications that stabilize the level of the happiness hormone in the brain are used to treat the disorder. For people who do not respond to medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, neurosurgery or electroconvulsive therapy is preferred. Electroconvulsive therapy uses electrodes attached to the person's head to deliver electric shocks. With the help of seizures, the release of neurotransmitters in the brain increases. With regular treatments, the person can continue his/her normal life.