Talking about OCD

  For quite some time in the past, OCD was considered a rare disorder and has not been of concern to clinicians. Because patients had partial self-control over their symptoms and rarely caused excessive social harm, social functioning and ability to live partially maintained, thus delaying attention to the disorder. However, in recent decades, with the continuous development of society, the increased stress in people’s lives and the emphasis on their own health, the understanding of OCD has changed in many ways and this ancient disorder has regained the attention of society and especially clinicians.  The results of the U.S. National Co-Occurring Disorders Survey show that OCD is the fourth most common mental illness after depression, alcohol dependence, and phobias, and also has the highest disability rate of all mental illnesses (including mental illnesses such as schizophrenia). The lifetime prevalence of OCD is about 2.6%, with no significant difference in gender distribution, but occupational surveys show a significantly higher proportion of brain workers. The disease occurs in adolescence or early adulthood, generally between the ages of 10 and 23, with an average age of onset of about 20 years, although there have been clinical reports of cases of onset at the age of 6 or even 2 years.  Most OCD has a slow onset with no apparent cause, and symptoms usually become apparent 7-10 years after onset, which is why most patients have a long delay in seeking medical attention. Because of the slow onset and prolonged course of OCD, about 54%-61% of cases tend to be chronic; 24%-33% of cases are fluctuating; and 11%-14% of cases have intervals of complete remission.  Patients often experience an exacerbation of symptoms in response to stress or mood swings. According to the Oxford University School of Medicine in 1998: 19% of patients can be treated satisfactorily; about 70% of patients can get most or partial remission, but need long-term or even lifelong medication; about 10% of patients have poor treatment. With the continuous development of medical science, the number of effective drugs for OCD treatment is increasing, and 27%-47% of patients with OCD who have completed the study are clinically cured. The presence of one or more of these symptoms affects the patient’s work, study and social interaction to varying degrees, and even leads to mental disability.  In clinical practice, we often encounter such secondary school students who have good academic performance in various subjects, including mathematics, before 7th grade, but after entering geometry, some students’ mathematics performance is not as good as before, and some of them are even getting worse. This leads to a series of problems. What is the problem? Students, parents and teachers are very confused, the author after a long period of observation and reference to some relevant information to come up with the answer is: obsessive-compulsive disorder. Weifang People’s Hospital Department of Clinical Psychology Xu Guangjun, therefore, for patients with OCD, early detection and early treatment and standardized treatment is very important.