OCD Symptoms & Prevalence

Many people find that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is life-altering. As with many personality disorders, this type of disorder can take over a person's life. Being a disorder that can impact all people young and old, it is important to fully understand this disorder. Only through properly understanding the disorder can we identify and properly treat individuals with OCD.

Significance

• Aspects of OCD can ultimately control a person's life, preventing them from normal function in a social group. Therefore, it is important to understand and treat early to prevent maladaptive behavioral patterns.

Symptoms

• The hallmark of OCD is persistent thoughts that cannot be ignored in conjunction with compulsive behavioral patterns aimed at reducing the distress from the obsessive thoughts.

Prevalence

• Statistics vary on the percent of the population that has OCD; however, the best estimates are of lifetime risk of about 2.5 percent of the population.

Cultural Elements

• Some cultures have ritualistic behaviors; however, these cultural behaviors should not be seen as a sign of OCD unless they exceed the cultural norms of the society.

Familial Pattern

• OCD has genetic elements. There is an increased risk of developing the disorder if relatives have the disorder. There is also an increased risk of OCD if there are family patterns of Tourette's Disorder.