OCD

Question 1

What does OCD stand for?

Answer 1

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Question 2

List the behavioural characteristics of OCD?

Answer 2

Compulsions are repetitive,
Compulsions reduce anxiety,
Avoidance.

Question 3

What is the behavioural component of OCD?

Answer 3

Compulsive behaviours.

Question 4

What are the 2 elements of compulsive behaviour?

Answer 4

Compulsions are repetitive

Compulsions reduce anxiety.

Question 5

What does compulsions are repetitive mean?

Answer 5

OCD sufferers feel compelled to repeat a behaviour.

Question 6

What are some examples of repetitive compulsions?

Answer 6

Hand washing,
counting,
praying,
tidying/ordering groups of objects.

Question 7

What does compulsions reduce anxiety mean?

Answer 7

Compulsive behaviours are performed in an attempt to manage the anxiety produced by obsessions.

Question 8

Example of compulsions to reduce anxiety:

Answer 8

Compulsive hand washing is carried out as a response to an obsessive fear of germs.

Question 9

What is compulsive checking?

Answer 9

It’s a response to the obsessive thought that something might be left unsecure.
For example, checking that a door

Question 10

What is avoidance?

Answer 10

Sufferers of OCD may try to manage their OCD by avoiding situations that trigger anxiety.

Question 11

An example of avoidance:

Answer 11

Sufferers who compulsively wash their hands may avoid coming into contact with germs.

Question 12

What are the consequences of avoidance?

Answer 12

Avoidance can lead to people avoiding very ordinary situations

such as emptying their rubbish bins which can interfere with leading a normal life.

Question 13

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?

Answer 13

Anxiety and distress,
Accompanying depression,
guilt and disgust.

Question 14

What does anxiety and distress refer to?

Answer 14

OCD is regarded as a particularly unpleasant emotional experience because of the powerful anxiety that accompanies both obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessive thoughts can cause overwhelming anxiety and the urge to repeat a behaviour (compulsion) can also.

Question 15

What does accompanying depression refer to?

Answer 15

Anxiety can be accompanied by low mood and lack of enjoyment in activities.

Compulsive behaviour tends to bring some relief from anxiety but this is temporary.

Question 16

What does guilt and disgust refer to?

Answer 16

OCD sometimes involves other negative emotions such as irrational guilt, for example over minor moral issues, or disgust, which can be directed at something external or at oneself.

Question 17

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

Answer 17

Obsessive thoughts,

Cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions,

Insight into excessive anxiety.

Question 18

What are obsessive thoughts?

Answer 18

Thoughts that recur over and over again.

90% of OCD sufferers have them - it’s the main cognitive feature.

These very from person to person but are always unpleasant.

Question 19

What are examples of recurring thoughts:

Answer 19

Worries of being contaminated by dirt and germs,

Certainty that a door has been left unlocked and intruders will enter through it,

Impulses to hurt someone.

Question 20

What does cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions refer to?

Answer 20

Obsessions are the major cognitive aspects of OCD, but people also respond by adopting cognitive coping strategies.

Strategies may help to manage the anxiety that someone feels but can make the person appear abnormal to others and can distract them from everyday tasks.

Question 21

What is an example of a cognitive coping strategy?

Answer 21

A religious person tormented by obsessive guilt may respond by praying or meditating.

Question 22

What does an insight into excessive anxiety mean?

Answer 22

People suffering from OCD are aware that their obsessions and compulsions are not rational.

However, they the OCD sufferer still experiences catastrophic thoughts about the worst case scenarios that might result if their anxieties were justified.

They also tend to be hypervigilant.