Characteristics of OCD

Question 1

What is OCD?

Answer 1

A common mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours.

Question 2

What are the Cognitive Characteristics?

Answer 2

Obsessive thoughts: These are recurring thoughts or urges. They are often inappropriate or bizarre.
These commonly include:
Ideas
Doubts
Images

Question 3

What are the Emotional Characteristics?

Answer 3

Anxiety – the obsessive thoughts/urges cause anxiety because of the fear of something terrible happening. The possibility that they do not correctly perform the compulsive behaviour may also cause anxiety, sometimes increasing the extent to which they perform the compulsive behaviour

Embarrassment – as patients realise that their compulsive behaviours are extreme, and unnecessary and that their obsessive thoughts sometimes involve taboo matters, embarrassment and shame may be caused.

Question 4

What are the Behavioural Characteristics?

Answer 4

Compulsive behaviours – these are repetitively performed to reduce the anxiety that had been produced by the obsessive thoughts or urges.

Behaviours (washing hands, ordering items, touching objects)
Thoughts (counting letters, praying).