Obsessive Compulsive Disorder example essay topic

Julie Gibbons is 25 years old. To people on the street she looks like a normal women in the prime of her life, but to those who know her well, know about the illness she suffers from daily. As soon as her alarm goes off in the morning, a feeling of dread comes over her. She immediately goes to the bathroom and washes her hands.

She steps into the shower and washes her hands repeatedly between washing different parts of her body. After about 45 minutes in the shower she gathers her dirty clothes and immediately throws them in the washer. Once again, her hands feel dirty feel dirty to her so she returns to the bathroom to clean them again. Her hands become so raw that she must use moisturizer to heal them.

The moisturizer makes her hands feel dirty... she wants to wash them again... she tells herself she is being stupid and if this continues much longer she will be late for work. She gives into the urge and washes them again. Kicking open the bathroom door, so to avoid contact with the germ-ridden doorknob, she hurries to make breakfast, which is followed by several more hand washes. Before she leaves she systematically goes from room to room locking and checking all the doors and windows.

By then she is already late for work but decides she'd better go back inside and check everything one more time, just to be sure. On the way to work she has to repeatedly stop and pull over to the side of the road because she thinks she has hit a pedestrian with her vehicle. After seeing she has hit no one, she scolds herself for being so ridiculous. Most days she arrives at work at least an hour late. Julie had always known she was not like everyone else.

Even back in middle school she had a sort of obsession with neatness and perfection. At school she would always have to arrange her paper, pens and pencils a certain way on her desk. Members of her family were never diagnosed with any type of disease but showed signs of similar behavior. Her father would constantly be cleaning the house. Her mother often complained of the "dirty" silverware at restaurants even when there was visibly nothing wrong with it.

As a psychology student, I would diagnose Julie with having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, also known as simply OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and / or actions (compulsions). People with OCD know their obsessions and compulsions are irrational or excessive, yet find they have little or no control over them. Typical obsessions include worries about germs, contamination, infection, recurrent thoughts that something has not been done properly, fears of losing something of importance, feelings that certain things must be always in a certain place, position or order.

Compulsions are strong urges to do something to reduce anxiety or other discomfort from obsessions. Typical compulsions include washing (particularly hand washing), cleaning, checking, touching, repetitive actions, counting, arranging and hoarding. Because Julie's behavior demonstrates many of these behaviors, including excessive hand washing, checking and rechecking door and window locks and fear of hitting people with her vehicle I believe OCD would best describe her actions. Julie obviously exhibits subjective distress. She is constantly questioning her state of mind and has trouble concentrating. As far as social / occupational dysfunction, Julie's habits and obsessions have made her shy away from meeting people or even just chatting with coworkers.

She has become very withdrawn at most times. The times she does speak up, she comes off as rude or inconsiderate. This is probably due to her frustration with her life and the stress her disorder brings. I believe she could possibly become a danger to herself or someone else. I believe this because the time she spends on her habits and such is extensive.

If a dangerous situation came about, she would become extremely anxious and instead of being able to make quick judgment calls, she may feel a strong urge to go through her repeated actions instead. This may cause herself, or someone else harm in the future. So according to all of the above, Julie's problems are sufficient to constitute a psychological disorder and I am confident it is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder due to the overwhelming evidence of her actions meeting the criteria for OCD. I would also diagnose Julie with generalized anxiety disorder, which is an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.

As I said before, as soon as Julie awakes in the morning, a feeling of dread fills her. This shows just how tense she is at all times due to her disorder. She is continually aroused because she is constantly frightened things are left undone or not right.