Mental Health Monday 7/5/2010

Since it is Mental health Monday, I thought today we would talk about a disorder that is commonly displayed in movies, tv, and is the butt of so many jokes. Today I am going to explain the difference between Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. Many people confuse them by saying "I am so OCD" when they just like their home clean. Others do not understand the concept of compulsions and obsessions. I think that far too many people use the term OCD without full knowledge of what it looks like. I will start by putting a video up so you can get an idea of what OCD really is.

This video is from this show I have been watching on VH1 called The OCD project. I thought this explanation was well formulated and these people have severe forms of OCD. I would recommend you give it a look if this interests you.

As Dr. Tolin explained there needs to be two different things going on for a person to have OCD. Obsessions are the thoughts that are constant and persistent in the mind of a person struggling with OCD.

An example of this would be a constant thought of "My child is going to die." This thought would not only come to your mind but would be intrusive and inappropriate and would cause marked anxiety or distress. We all have worries that come into our minds and even some of those that seem a little inappropriate for the setting but most of us can get that thought out of our mind and self soothe enough to not have to deal with it constantly and persistently. A person who has OCD will not be able to self soothe but will do step two which is to form a compulsion.

A compulsion is a repetitive behavior or mental act that a person feels the need to continue doing in response to the obsession or according to rules that must be followed rigidly. We will use our prior example of "My child is going to die."

Compulsions a person may use to combat this obsessive thought are things like:

repetitive behaviors: hand washing, ordering, checking ....or....

mental acts: praying, counting, or repeating words silently.

The main thing to remember is that these two are connected and there is something irrational in the mind that tells the person struggling with OCD that doing these rituals will cause the obsessive thought to neutralize. There is no comfort or rest for this disorder without treatment.

Now...onto Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder

This is the disorder that more people relate to than people who relate to OCD. The criteria for OCPD is:

A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

1) is preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules to the extent that the major point of the activity is lost.

2) shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion (e.g., is unable to complete a project because his or her own overly strict standards are not met)

3) is excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity)

4) is overconscientious, scrupulous, and inflexible about matters of morality, ethics, or values (not accounted for by cultural or religious identification)

5) is unable to discard worn-out or worthless objects even when they have no sentimental value

6) is reluctant to delegate tasks or to work with others unless they submit to exactly his or her way of doing things

7) adopts a miserly spending style toward both self and others; money is viewed as something to be hoarded for future catastrophes

8) shows rigidity and stubbornness

People often confuse the two of these and as you can see...they are VERY different!

Here is a video to explain the differences more thoroughly to supplement the reading.