Causes & Symptoms of OCD

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is an anxiety disorder. People with OCD have irrational fears that they try to quell with compulsive behaviors. These behaviors are often repeated an unreasonable number of times. People with OCD often realize that their behaviors as well as their fears are not rational, but are powerless to stop them. Some examples of the way that OCD can manifest itself include a person washing his hands to the point of drawing blood, or hoarding food to the point of not having room for anything else.

Causes

No one knows for sure what causes OCD. It tends to run in families, so there may be a genetic link. Many with OCD may have a serotonin deficiency. Sometimes serotonin supplements decrease the symptoms OCD in some patients. Another possibility is that OCD obsessions and rituals are behaviors that a person picked up over time. These can also begin when a person is under extreme stress. Pregnancy can exacerbate or instigate the condition in susceptible women. There has also been limited research linking a strep throat infection to the development to OCD.

Obsession Symptoms

The obsession symptoms related to OCD are the irrational fears or thoughts that plague the patient. These often center around a common theme, such as cleanliness, fear of germs, needing items to be in a specific pattern or order, or aggressive or inappropriate thoughts. A person obsessed with cleanliness may be terrified that she will become infected or contaminated if she touches another person or an object. Someone else may become very agitated if objects are not lined up in a specific pattern or in a symmetrical way. A person bothered by aggressive thoughts may have disturbing images of hurting someone, or have bouts of excessive worry.

Compulsion Symptoms

As a person obsesses over his fears, he usually picks up compulsive behaviors. The person afraid of contamination, for example, may wash his hands over and over until they are raw and bleeding. Someone who needs items lined up a certain way will often check and recheck the items, feeling the need to touch them in a certain order each time. People with OCD may ask for reassurance from other people that things are just so, or may check to see that the stove is shut off many times. If a person is spending so much time obsessing over irrational fears or performing rituals over and over again to the point that his daily life is impacted, mental health treatment is warranted.