by Michele Wilmonen

Created on: February 09, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

Click-click-click-click....click-click-click-click.. ......click-click-click-click......you may be wondering what that noise is. This is the sound of a man who is afraid of something evil getting into his home. By locking and unlocking the deadbolt on the door and counting to four in three successive groups he believes that this ritual will keep him safe and he can not sleep at night until he has accomplished it. While this may sound utterly ridiculous to you and I, this fear and the alleviation of his fear by doing this ritual is very real to this man and to the many, many others that suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder. This disorder can create such a problem for people that their whole lives are disrupted because of unwanted thoughts and actions. So what causes these thoughts to get out of control and how can someone control them? The answers may not be as easy as the questions.

"Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive and distressing thoughts, urges and images as well as repetitive behaviors aimed at decreasing the discomfort caused by these obsessive thoughts (Swinson, 1998) ." Broken down, obsession is defined as thoughts that will not stop, while compulsions are the behaviors that the patient can't stop doing (Carlson, 2004). Just as the example in the beginning, of the man that could not stop thinking about the evil that could possibly get into his house (obsession) and also the pattern lock turning and counting (compulsion) which he could not stop himself from doing or his obsessive thoughts would take over. But is that really a problem if he is not hurting anyone? There are many famous people that had OCD and although they suffered from the disorder they contributed great things to our world. John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim's Progress), Therese of Lisieux (patron saint of France), Winston Churchill, Martin Luther and a name that has very recently become popular once again, Howard Hughes (Osborn, 1998). So this touches on one of the most important things that needs to be looked at with a disorder such as OCD. How well does the patient function with the disorder? Those that can adapt well to the disorder are healthier and have less of an onset of negative symptoms. Those that can not adapt become dysfunctional and the disorder consumes their lives ( Magnavita, 2004) these are the ones that need help in removing the troublesome thoughts. Clinically there are four qualities to diagnose whether the person

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