Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
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Do you find yourself doing behaviors, such as locking doors,
checking the stove, or turning off lights over and over again until you
feel they have been done right?
Are you bothered by thoughts that are disturbing to you, but you can
not get them out of your head?
Do you fear that you may be contaminated by something you touch
or that you may contaminate others?
Do you collect things such as newspapers, old mail, or shopping
bags for no apparent reason?
checking the stove, or turning off lights over and over again until you
feel they have been done right?
Are you bothered by thoughts that are disturbing to you, but you can
not get them out of your head?
Do you fear that you may be contaminated by something you touch
or that you may contaminate others?
Do you collect things such as newspapers, old mail, or shopping
bags for no apparent reason?
| These are symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |
Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
If the symptoms above sound like you, you may have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
(OCD). For many years, psychotherapies for OCD were relatively, ineffective. Then a thread
of behavioral research in the early 1980's spawned an effective treatment for OCD called
Exposure and Response Prevention.
Exposure and response prevention assumes that OCD behaviors and thoughts exist
because they are part of a feedback loop that maintains the behaviors through partial
reduction of anxiety while never giving the OCD sufferer true relief from their symptoms.
Treatment for OCD involves exposure to anxiety-provoking situations while preventing the
individual's usual response. For example, an individual that felt compelled to wash out of
fear of contamination might be asked to not wash when they believed that they were
contaminated. This allows the individual the opportunity to learn that anxiety will reduce
eventually on its own without the necessity to complete the usual behavior. More about
Exposure and Response Prevention is available at Anxiety Disorders Association of America.
Return to "How Dr. Shaw Helps"
If the symptoms above sound like you, you may have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
(OCD). For many years, psychotherapies for OCD were relatively, ineffective. Then a thread
of behavioral research in the early 1980's spawned an effective treatment for OCD called
Exposure and Response Prevention.
Exposure and response prevention assumes that OCD behaviors and thoughts exist
because they are part of a feedback loop that maintains the behaviors through partial
reduction of anxiety while never giving the OCD sufferer true relief from their symptoms.
Treatment for OCD involves exposure to anxiety-provoking situations while preventing the
individual's usual response. For example, an individual that felt compelled to wash out of
fear of contamination might be asked to not wash when they believed that they were
contaminated. This allows the individual the opportunity to learn that anxiety will reduce
eventually on its own without the necessity to complete the usual behavior. More about
Exposure and Response Prevention is available at Anxiety Disorders Association of America.
Return to "How Dr. Shaw Helps"
David B. Shaw, Ph.D. Phone: 757-788-9141
2211 Todds Lane Email: DoctorShaw@lifework2000.com
Hampton, VA 23666
2211 Todds Lane Email: DoctorShaw@lifework2000.com
Hampton, VA 23666