2010 m. balandžio 22 d., ketvirtadienis

Psychology of obsession


It’s normal, on occasion, to go back and double-check that the iron is unplugged or your car is locked but if people do it twenty times a day, it may be a psychical disorder.
A big number of triggering stimuli could create obsessions. Obsessions are defined as unwanted and intrusive thoughts, images or impulses. A person who experiences them finds them repellent, illogical, unacceptable, and hard to get rid of. When an obsession happens, a person feels uncomfortable, anxious and the need to neutralize or put right such obsession. And the compulsion is the action taken to release this accumulated anxiety. This can be demonstrated in activities such as repetetive hand washing, checking and rececking lights and locks and so on. Neutralizing behaviours are often done according to strange "rules".
This Psychological disorder driven by anxiety is usally called obsessiove-compulsive disorder OCD. Often people with OCD actually feel relieved after doing their unique ritual. The action makes them feel safe…until the next disturbing thought or feeling overwhelms them.
Clinically, obsessional-compulsive phenomenon was split to two:
1. Obsessional thoughts which are compulsive behaviour free (Obsessional ruminations).
2. Obsessions plus overt compulsions (Obsessional ritualizing).
Most common obsessions: aggressive impulses (eg: killing somebody), contamination (eg: becoming infected by touching people), doubt (eg: wondering if you turned off the gas stove or not), sex (eg: images of culturally unacceptable sexual practices), concern over health (eg: worrying about the preservatives in your food), need for symmetry (eg: worrying that one's desk is not rigidly organized) perfection(eg: extreme need to have the perfect body, the best job, or the very superior child.) disasters ( eg: constant fear of plane crashes, fires, bombings, and similar tragedies.)
Most common compultions: Picking(eg: scabs, pimples, noses, cuticles, often till the person is bleeding.) Checking ( eg: lights, gas, doors, locks, body parts and looking for robbers, ghosts, monsters, etc.) Counting (eg: calories, stairs, money or doing things an odd or even amount of times.) Washing ( eg: hands, body parts, door knobs, brushing teeth excessively.).
All in all OCD is a psychological disorder and it has to be treated. Till now best way to treat it is cognitive therapy. A big part of cognitive therapy for OCD is teaching you healthy and effective ways of responding to obsessive thoughts, without resorting to compulsive behavior.
References:
http://ccvillage.buffalo.edu/Abpsy/lecture5.html
http://pierre-khazen-psy.blogspot.com/2007/09/obsessions-in-psychology.htm
picture:
http://strengthenedbygrace.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/notobsessive.jpg