OCD characteristics usually emerge early in life
Obsessive behaviors can continue throughout lifetime, may be debilitating, experts say
Ashley Dziuk
Issue date: 11/7/05 Section: Health
An example of an OCD would be a compulsion for symmetry and order, such as every item in somebody's room might have a specific place it belongs, he said. If it is not perfectly in place, there is a building sense of internal tension within the person.
Symptoms of OCDs can start in middle childhood, but some characteristics can be seen even earlier than that, Bjerke said. These characteristics include rigidity, inflexibility to schedule changes or emotional outbursts when things become unpredictable.
Dolens said when she thinks of OCDs, she thinks of people washing their hands frequently or trying to be extremely clean. They have habits in general that they must do very often in order to feel in control and feel better. She said she may exhibit at least one OCD characteristic.
"I have an obsession with flossing," Dolens said. "I must do it at least twice a day."
Hand washing is a very typical characteristic with people who have an OCD, Bjerke said. Numerous checking behaviors also are very typical, like checking the locks on doors multiple times, even when the person knows they are locked.
"These kinds of attributes, OCD attributes, are on an evolutionary scale and are adaptive behaviors," he said. "It is useful to have order in your life and it is useful to have your hands free of germs and contamination. Every OCD behavior is probably an example of an extreme end of an evolutionary adaptive behavior."
An OCD typically isn't thought of as something that gets cured, but something that gets managed, Bjerke said. Medications are always a front line intervention, but the best combination is the right medication as well as the specific psychotherapy called Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
"The medication will reduce the intensity of symptoms and manages some of the anxiety," he said. "The therapy will help them learn ways of confronting obsessions and compulsions and find strategies to manage them and reduce their impact."
OCD is considered a very treatable disorder, Bjerke said. It may be hard for people who have never experienced an OCD to understand it because it often is outside the general public's experience of life, but it is important for people to understand.
Dolens agreed that though a lot of students are aware of the condition, they may not all understand it.
"It is useful to think of it as a sneeze, a really profound itch, that is relieved only when you scratch it," Bjerke said. "It is a very frustrating and sometimes debilitating problem."
Symptoms of OCDs can start in middle childhood, but some characteristics can be seen even earlier than that, Bjerke said. These characteristics include rigidity, inflexibility to schedule changes or emotional outbursts when things become unpredictable.
Dolens said when she thinks of OCDs, she thinks of people washing their hands frequently or trying to be extremely clean. They have habits in general that they must do very often in order to feel in control and feel better. She said she may exhibit at least one OCD characteristic.
"I have an obsession with flossing," Dolens said. "I must do it at least twice a day."
Hand washing is a very typical characteristic with people who have an OCD, Bjerke said. Numerous checking behaviors also are very typical, like checking the locks on doors multiple times, even when the person knows they are locked.
"These kinds of attributes, OCD attributes, are on an evolutionary scale and are adaptive behaviors," he said. "It is useful to have order in your life and it is useful to have your hands free of germs and contamination. Every OCD behavior is probably an example of an extreme end of an evolutionary adaptive behavior."
An OCD typically isn't thought of as something that gets cured, but something that gets managed, Bjerke said. Medications are always a front line intervention, but the best combination is the right medication as well as the specific psychotherapy called Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.
"The medication will reduce the intensity of symptoms and manages some of the anxiety," he said. "The therapy will help them learn ways of confronting obsessions and compulsions and find strategies to manage them and reduce their impact."
OCD is considered a very treatable disorder, Bjerke said. It may be hard for people who have never experienced an OCD to understand it because it often is outside the general public's experience of life, but it is important for people to understand.
Dolens agreed that though a lot of students are aware of the condition, they may not all understand it.
"It is useful to think of it as a sneeze, a really profound itch, that is relieved only when you scratch it," Bjerke said. "It is a very frustrating and sometimes debilitating problem."
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