文档介绍：When Unwanted Thoughts Take Over:
pulsive
Disorder
National Institute of Mental Health
. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES • National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Mental Health
pulsive Disorder
Anxiety Disorders
People with anxiety disorders feel extremely fearful and unsure.
Most people feel anxious about something for a short time now and
again, but people with anxiety disorders feel this way most of the time.
Their fears and worries make it hard for them to do everyday tasks.
About 18% of American adults have anxiety disorders. Children also
may have them.
Treatment is available for people with anxiety disorders. Researchers
are also looking for new treatments that will help relieve symptoms.
This booklet is about one kind of anxiety disorder called obsessive-
compulsive disorder, or OCD. For information about other kinds
of anxiety disorders, please see the end of this booklet.
pulsive Disorder
Everyone double-checks things sometimes—for example,
checking the stove before leaving the house, to make sure
it’s turned off. But people with OCD feel the need to
check things over and over, or have certain thoughts or
perform routines and rituals over and over. The thoughts
and rituals of OCD cause distress and get in the way of
daily life.
The repeated, upsetting thoughts of OCD are called
try to control them, people with OCD
repeat rituals or behaviors, which are pulsions.
People with OCD can’t control these thoughts and rituals.
Examples of obsessions are fear of germs, of being hurt
or of hurting others, and troubling religious or sexual
thoughts. Examples pulsions are repeatedly
counting things, cleaning things, washing the body or
parts of it, or putting things in a certain order, when these
actions are not needed, and checking things over and over.
People with OCD have these thoughts and do these rituals
for at least an hour on most days, often reason
OCD gets in t