This is a project for a high school AP Psychology course. This is a fictionalized account of having a psychological ailment.

1. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

2. What is OCD?
OCD is an Anxiety Disorder
 Those who have OCD suffer from
uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts, as
well as “rituals” that are repeated.


3. What is OCD?

Obsessions
 Uncontrollable, recurring thoughts
○ Thoughts of harming oneself/others
○ Socially inappropriate sexual obsessions
 People with severe OCD’s obsessions can
become illusions

4. What is OCD?

Compulsions
 Performing rituals because of an
inexplicable need to, or to reduce anxiety
○ Skin picking and similar “habits”
○ Counting (Footsteps, repetitions, etc.)
○ Clearing throat

6. Similarities to Other
Disorders

OCD compulsions have some resemblance to
Tourette’s syndrome, but are different due to
the repetitious nature.
Simulating an urge

7. Symptoms





Excessive
cleaning
Extreme hoarding
Repeated
checking
Obsessive
sexual, supernatu
ral, violent or
religious thoughts
Nervous Rituals

8. Treatment

Studies show that altered states of
Serotonin contribute to OCD
 SSRI’s are the best medical treatment

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
 Exposure with response prevention (ERP)
 Exposing the subject to a stimulus until there
is no longer any anxiety
 OCD brain is usually more active

10. How It Feels To Me
I have always struggled with OCD. The
following slides will tell about my
experience with the symptoms.

11. Compulsions
I have several compulsions that I can’t
control.
 Many people don’t understand. It’s like
there’s something in your body that
makes you do it, even though you don’t
want to, or know you shouldn’t. You just
do it.


13. Compulsions
I had an issue when I was younger with
knocking on door frames whenever
leaving or entering a room.
 When I run, I have to brush my right
shoe against my left leg once per step
, and repeat it several times per(until it
feels right).
 It feels like an itch that you cannot
scratch. It’s all internal, and can’t be
satisfied.


14. Imagine trying to resist brushing
off these bugs, and they won’t
go away until you do it several
times.

15. Obsessions
I have had issues with recurring
thoughts about harming my loved ones
 Once again, I just think them, even
though I know that it’s wrong.


16. Obsessions
One of my obsessions is a concern for
evenness and order.
 If one thing is out of place in a list, then I
get anxious.


17. What obsessions feel like

It’s almost as if someone says, “Don’t
think about potatoes”. You have to think
of potatoes in order to not think about
them. This is similar to what it’s like with
an obsessive thought.

18. What obsessions feel like

It can also be described in the way that,
if you don’t do something (organize)
then something bad will happen. If you
don’t fix that one section of bad
handwriting on the project, all of the
handwriting is bad, and you will literally
get a 0%.

19. Bad Handwriting