Paper Topic:

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

CASE STUDY I - MARIA : OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DIS

2007

Anxiety diss are among the most common ailments among Americans with about 20 of the population being afflicted by a form of the dis (The Semel Institute for Neuroscience Human Behavior at UCLA 2005 . Anxiety is the apprehension of danger or something unpleasant and is an emotional response to a yet non-existent threat , as opposed to fear which is a response elicited by existing threats (Siegel , Agranoff Fisher , Albers , and Uhler , 1999 . It is but a typical reaction to stressful

conditions and normally , can actually be helpful in making people better prepared for certain situations by urging them to anticipate , evaluate and decide accordingly . In some cases though anxiety may reach incapacitating levels , preventing people from functioning normally and consequently disrupting their lives . When anxiety reaches such extreme levels , it becomes a dis , often requiring professional help for proper evaluation and treatment (The Semel Institute , 2005 . In fact , anxiety diss are among those that account for most of psychiatric cases , with anxiety itself also figuring mainly in most other psychiatric ailments (Siegel et al , 1999

Anxiety diss come in distinct forms which are categorized , based on the American Psychiatric Association 's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV , according to the set of symptoms being manifested (Siegel et al , 1999 . One of the recognized forms is OCD or Obsessive-Compulsive Dis which is reported to affect about 3 of the US population (Plante , 2005

OCD is termed as such because it is characterized by plaguing obsessions and compulsions . Lots of people do have slight obsessions and compulsions , but these are mostly mild enough not to be considered as a dis (Plante , 2005 . For those suffering from the dis however obsessions and compulsions reach uncontrollable levels so that normal daily functioning is disrupted . The dis may start manifesting at any age but most often appears anytime from childhood to adolescence (The Semel Institute , 2005

Obsessions refer to persistent and recurring thoughts , images or impulses (Plante , 2005 ) which are often irrational but cannot be controlled by the person (Siegel et al , 1999 ) thereby causing great anxiety . Common obsessions include aggression , scrupulous practice of one 's religion , safety /harm , the need for exactness or symmetry and fears on contamination or somatic (body ) fears . On the other hand compulsions (e .g . excessive cleaning /washing , checking , counting repeating , ing /arranging and hoarding /collecting ) are repetitive behaviors exhibited by the person in an effort to ease the anxiety caused by his /her obsessions . Though the person is often aware of how irrational these actions are , he /she is nevertheless compelled to do them (Stahl , 2000 . For example , a person obsessed with exactness or symmetry will most probably resort to excessively organizing things until he /she is satisfied that everything is in

In this particular case study , the subject , Maria , is a 38-year-old mother obsessed with being a devout Catholic . She has been very conscientious in practicing her religion and yet , still worries if she is devout enough . As...

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