9 Facts on OCD ...

Photo Credit: amy.spanos

Many people that suffer from OCD share some obsessions that are quite common. These shared obsessions include; fear of dirt and germs where the sufferer needs to constantly wash their hands, worry about things not being exact or symmetrical or strong aggressive thoughts about harming someone that you care for.

Photo Credit: Mary Hare

There appears to be some link between obsessive compulsive disorder and other disorders, such as depression, eating disorders, anxiety and others. Some people that have OCD also show signs of these other disorders, which can make diagnosis and treatment more difficult as many things need to be tackled.

Photo Credit: tori.malea

In the majority of OCD cases the disorder started during childhood or adolescence, it may not have been visible during this period but later made an appearance. Approximately one third, if not more, of adult OCD cases started at some point during childhood.

Photo Credit: durtcom

During a year approximately two per cent of the US population can be affected by OCD. This percentage often consists of some new cases and some old cases. It is also very difficult to draw the line between what is considered to be normal behaviour and what is obsessive.

Photo Credit: dontcallmeikke

Many people have never experienced OCD until all of a sudden an extremely stressful event occurs in their life. The OCD in a lot of cases helps the person to get through this period in their life; it is the only one aspect that they feel they have complete control over.

Photo Credit: mishybelle

In some cases of OCD anti-depressant medication has been shown to help as they help to regulate an imbalance of chemicals that are thought to bring about obsessive behaviour. These drugs do not have to be taken by themselves; often you can receive Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) alongside the anti-depressants.

Photo Credit: Victor Mui

There are many methods, nowadays, in which people suffering from OCD can learn to control their obsessive compulsive thoughts. One of which involves thinking of their obsessions, recording their obsessions in some way, referring to this recording every day and not giving into temptation.

Photo Credit: .Miller Family.

This is only in a few cases that OCD is inherited from a parent or someone else in your gene pool. Although this does bring on the whole debate of whether the behaviour is truly inherited or whether, as a child, you learn to imitate the behaviour of OCD from a close one.

Photo Credit: Venus In Furs

When you think about it quite a lot of people suffer from OCD if about one in fifty people experience it during their lifetime. Think of how many people you come into contact with on a daily basis, whether at college or work, you are likely to meet at least one person per day with the disorder or someone who will later go onto develop it. You may even be that person.

There you have 9 facts on OCD. Hopefully these facts should help to heighten awareness of OCD and help you to understand more about the disorder.

Top Photo Credit: Roadside Guitars