Obsessions and Preoccupations Flashcards
Presence of obsessions and compulsions that are time consuming or cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important life areas
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
What two things are obsessions defined by?
Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and unwanted, and that in most individuals cause marked anxiety or distress.
The individual attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, urges, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action (i.e., by performing a compulsion)
What two things are compulsions defined by?
Repetitive behaviors (e.g., hand washing, ordering, checking) or mental acts that the individual feels driven to perform in response to an
obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly.
The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing anxiety or distress, or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts are not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to neutralize or prevent, or are clearly
excessive.
Four main subtypes of OCD
Symmetry (exactness, “just right”)
Forbidden thoughts/actions
Cleaning/contamination
Hoarding
Describe the mechanistic theory behind OCD
- Normal intrusive thought combined with maladaptive core beliefs is misinterpreted as important/threatening
- The misinterpretation leads to obsessional anxiety, which amplifies the misinterpretation and leads to more intrusive thoughts
- The obsessional anxiety leads to efforts to remove the obsessional fear, which further encourages the misinterpretation
- The efforts to remove the fear lead to a reduction in anxiety, which supports the maladaptive core beliefs
The lifetime prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder is…
1.6 - 2.3 %
Obsessive compulsive disorder is often comorbid with…
Tic disorder
Why are religious obsessions related to schizophrenia common?
Religiosity typically creates more thought-action fusion (thinking your thoughts = the
behaviour of the thoughts)
What is the typical treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder?
A combination of SSRIs (up to 60% benefit from this) and ERP (can benefit up to 86%)
Psychosurgery done rarely
What are the DSM-5-TR criteria for body dysmorphic disorder?
Preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance
that are not observable or appear slight to others.
At some point during the course of the disorder, the individual has performed
repetitive behaviors or mental acts in response to the appearance concerns.
The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment
What is the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder?
Overall, about 1-2% of individuals in community samples
Overrepresented in certain populations (students and dermatology, orthodontics/oral surgery, cosmetic surgery patients)
What are the top three locations that someone with body dysmorphic disorder might focus on?
Skin (80%), hair (58%), nose (39%)
What is the common treatment for BDD?
Exposure and response prevention
Persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value where the difficulty is due to a perceived need to save the items and to distress associated with discarding them
Hoarding disorder
Which two specifiers are associated with hoarding disorder?
With excessive acquisition: If difficulty discarding possessions is accompanied by excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which there is no available space
Insight (good/fair, poor, absent/delusional)
