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Showing posts with label OCD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OCD. Show all posts

Monday, October 26, 2015

Hoarding and Body Dysmorphic Disorders



Obsessive compulsive disorder (discussed in a previous post) is grouped in a DSM-5 category called "obsessive compulsive and related disorders." Other disorders included in this category are hoarding, body dysmorphic, trichotillomania (hair picking), and excoriation (skin picking) disorders. 

Upon publication of the DSM-5, there were a lot of ignorant people laughing at the "new" disorder "hoarding," and giving it as an example of how the DSM-5 encourages over-diagnosis of "normal" individuals. Such people do not understand the dire nature of this disorder. An individual with hoarding disorder finds it extremely distressful to discard objects, regardless of their actual value. These objects fill up their living spaces, leading to impairment of the individual's ability to live a healthy, functional life. 

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder



Most people are familiar with obsessive compulsive disorder as is popularized in many TV shows and movies. My favorite is Monk, a TV show about Adrian Monk, an investigator who works with the San Francisco police department. Due to Monk's severe OCD (along with other disorders), he was forced into retirement as a detective with the San Francisco PD. The show is unflinching about the negative effects of Monk's disorder, but of course it introduces humor into his predicament. 

According to the DSM-5, obsessions are "recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images" that are intrusive and cause distress. The individual attempts to ignore the obsessions, but is generally unable to. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors - such as hand washing, checking, praying, counting, or word repetition - that the individual feels compelled to perform in order to reduce anxiety and distress.