Download Introduction to Mental Disorders

Category: Anxiety Disorders
Source: DSM-IV TR
• Characterized by intrusive
thoughts that produce
anxiety, and by repetitive
behaviors aimed at reducing
anxiety
• Combination of thoughts and
behaviors
• Compulsions = tasks or
“rituals”
• Obsessions are:
• Recurrent and persistent
thoughts
• Impulses
• Images that are intrusive
and inappropriate
• Compulsions are:
• Repetitive behavior
• Mental acts
• Behaviors that prevent or
reduce distress
• Behaviors or acts are not
connected in a realistic
way with what they are
supposed to neutralize
• Repetitive hand washing
• Extensive hoarding
• Preoccupation with
sexual or aggressive
impulses
• Aversion to odd numbers
• Nervous habits (i.e.
opening a door and
closing it a certain
number of times before
entering a room)
• Symptoms are often
alienating, and often
cause sever emotional
and economic loss
• OCD is the fourth-most
common mental disorder
• In the US 1 in 50 has
OCD
• Equal in both genders
• Usually begins in late
teens for males and
early twenties for
females
• 3% of college graduates
develop OCD while only
2% without a college
degree
• Both psychological and
biological factors play a
role
• Abnormalities with the
brains production of
serotonin
• Therapy and medication
• “exposure and ritual
prevention”
• SSRIs
• Some extreme cases rely
on “psychosurgery”