Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - Essay Example ho is suffering from OCD knows that he or she is reacting excessively but could not control his or her reactions (see American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The overt reactions of the patient in response to his or her thoughts and impulses often appear to be bizarre to the people around him or her. For instance, a person who is obsessed with fear of contamination or dirt may incessantly wash his or her hands until they are raw (Fireman B, Koran LM, Leventhal JL, Jacobson A (2001). Most people who are suffering from OCD are aware that their actions are irrational but they still feel compelled to do what they do to fend off the feeling of panic or morbid dread. (Elkin, G. David (1999). In the early days, OCD was seen more in the spiritual and religious context (Ross G. Menzies and Padmal de Silva C., 2003). A lot of people in the 14th to the 16th century view OCD as the work of the devil and can only be undone through exorcism (Baer, L.; M. A. Jenike & W. E. Minichiello, 1986). Although there were many patients who eventually recovered after being exorcises, a lot of these patients did not really get better (Ross G. Menzies and Padmal de Silva C., 2003). However, as time passed by, many people begun to see OCD as something that is out of the spiritual and religious realm. The French and the Germans brought forth the idea that OCD is a mental disorder sometime in the 1870s ((Ross G. Menzies and Padmal de Silva C., 2003). For years, medical professionals and researchers debated on the issue of what really caused OCD. Some suggested that OCD is a psychological disorder while other believer that it is of neurological origin. Sigmund Freud was one of the first to offer an explanation of what OCD is theorizing that OCD originates from the persons unconscious conflicts (Baer, L.; M. A. Jenike & W. E. Minichiello, 1986). Freud based his explanation of what OCD is on the clinical history of a patient who has a "touching phobia". According to him, where a situation remains