Psyche constraints can make you sick

OCD: compulsions that paralyze everyday life

03/13/2014

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder suffer from thoughts that seem uncontrollable. Some of these disorders can be treated well. Many constraints often go back to childhood experiences. If left untreated, they often bring those affected into a downward spiral with increasing suffering.

Because of compulsion to be laughed at
The American actor Jack Nicholson plays in the Hollywood classic „It could not be better“ a man who constantly has to wash his hands with a new soap, almost after every touch. People like Nicholson in this movie role are considered people with exaggerated penchant for control and weird quirks. Often, they keep their problem for as long as they can, because they are afraid of being laughed at and are under tremendous pressure. For obsessive-compulsive suffer from intrusive and uncontrollable compulsive thoughts. These usually cause them to perform certain actions again and again.

Negative childhood experiences play a role in constraints
Angelika Erhardt, Senior Consultant of the Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, explained: „They check maybe 20 or 30 times if the stove is on because they are afraid they might forget it and cause something bad.“ While they are aware of the folly and futility of these thoughts and actions, they still do not succeed in stopping them. „About two in 100 people develop OCD in the pathological sense during their lifetime“, so the neuroscientist. Many factors contribute to this. For example, hereditary predisposition plays a role, but above all it is also relevant to incisive life events and negative childhood experiences, such as an education characterized by pressure and high performance requirements.

Affected person could not work and participate in family life
Control is a common form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, also washing compulsions, counting constraints, regulatory constraints or disease courses are possible, which include several constraints. According to the dpa news agency, Arne Schätzig (name changed) also belongs to the latter group. He developed after a temporary phase with washing forced control pressures, which affected him more and more. He controlled faucet, hair dryer or other electrical appliances. Schätzig spent up to an hour a day in the daily stages of his illness, occasionally coming to work late, and therefore had to make excuses. „The worst part was that this feeling of anxiety and tension, it could have happened something, has been haunting me all day long“, so the person concerned. He was unable to work in phases and to participate in family life.

Reduce constraints with therapies
Untreated, obsessive-compulsive disorders often lead to a downward spiral with ever increasing suffering. „The important message to those affected is that you can treat obsessions today very well. You are not helpless“, says Professor Ulrich Voderholzer, medical director of the Schön Klinik Roseneck, specialist clinic for mental and psychosomatic diseases, in Prien am Chiemsee. A behavioral therapy geared specifically to obsessive-compulsive disorder, which includes a stimulus confrontation, is the most promising. Affected learn to expose themselves to the coercive stimuli, without performing their forced rituals. Although most of the constraints do not quite disappear, they can often be reduced to such a low level that they no longer interfere with everyday life. The chances of success are better, the sooner the treatment begins.

Affected persons often do not get an appointment for a very long time
According to Voderholzer, however, it takes an average of six years before the diagnosis is even made. Not only the shame, which many sufferers feel because of their compulsions and therefore they do not go to the doctor until late or not at all, but also the lack of therapists, who are qualified for obsessive-compulsive disorder, is a problem. Therefore, many obsessive-compulsive or no an inadequate treatment. All the worse, therefore, is that the schedules of specialized clinics and practices are often full in the long run. „Some patients are told to call again for an appointment in a year“, said Antonia Peters, CEO of the German Society for Obsessive-Compulsive Diseases. She and her colleagues help those affected to find a doctor and get treatment on time. As Peters points out, patients should have the courage to open up and get treatment as soon as possible.

OCD is one of the most common mental illnesses
Several years ago, the numbers of the Professional Association of German Neurologists showed that obsessive-compulsive disorder is one of the most common mental illnesses in Germany and that about one to two percent of the population suffer from it. Because mental health problems are often caused by excessive anxiety, those concerned may try to control these anxieties through behavioral therapy. Among other things, hypnosis can help the anxiety patients to avoid the occurrence of OCD. An expert of the German Nervenärzte then pointed out that the health consequences of obsessive-compulsive disorder, such as constant shaking, excessive sweating, palpitations, inner turmoil and heart stumbling, could only be prevented by therapeutic measures. (Sb)