FREE ESSAY ON OCD

OCD

OCD
What does three percent of our population have in common? The answer is a disorder known
as Obsessive Compulsive disorder, or OCD. OCD is one of the most overlooked disorders
among all mental illnesses, however it is more dominant than schizophrenia, and bipolar
disorder. OCD is in most cases as simple as the repetitive washing of ones hands, but in
rare cases it may be as severe as feeling a need to harm someone. OCD is a
undiscriminating in the sense that it equally affects men and women as well as all races
and peoples regardless of economic status and cultural upbringing. The diagnosis of OCD
is possible at young ages, however if not diagnosed at a young age it will become more
severe with the progression of time. 
OCD is broken down into two parts, the obsessions, and the compulsions. The obsessions as
they are referred to, are the repetitive impulses or thoughts that continually repeat in
the victim's mind. These obsessions may lead a victim of OCD to believe that they must
clean their house several times to avoid a mess. These obsessions lead to the
compulsions, which are the repeating of the same task, assigned by their obsessions,
which in the case of the preceding obsession mentioned would be cleaning their house
several times. Other compulsions are the repeating of the same phrase over and over or a
desire for complete perfection when doing a task. Although obsessions and compulsions go
hand in hand 80% of the time it is possible for one to have one and not the other. 
Treatment of OCD is very difficult because of the anxiety that forms when the obsessions
and compulsions are not satisfied. One may think that it would be as simple as just
stopping however those suffering from OCD find it hard to deal with the stress and
generally attempt to stop but fail resulting from the stress. Medications such as prozac
are used to aid in the treatment of OCD but presently there are no infallible cures. 
Personally I believe that OCD should be researched more intensely that it currently is,
and should not be considered something that people should just have to live with. I also
believe that there is a lack of education dealing with this disease and as a result ideas
such as the belief that OCD is harmless are prevalent among many.