Case Study 8: A 26 year old man is very concerned about cleanliness and hygiene. He spends a significant amount of time each day washing his hands or showering, especially after touch a toilet seat, doorknob, or any other item he thinks may be dirty or contaminated. The patient explains that he is concerned about becoming infected or sick from touching these objects. He periodically acknowledges that the washing is excessive but explains that he becomes very anxious when he tries to avoid washing and eventually feels compelled to wash even more to make up for the omission.
The man in this case study is suffering from a case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. His excessive washing, especially after touching "dirty" objects, leads one to believe this. When he realizes this and tries to stop, he becomes even more obsessed with cleanliness, and goes back to his old way of life. Due to this, it is quite easy to diagnose him with obsessive compulsive disorder. While easy to diagnose, it is not as easy to get over. He will have to go through therapy, and will need to be given some form of medication. Before jumping into either of these, however, the doctors will need to look at his life (both past and present), to see what type of treatment will be best for him(what medications will have the least side-effects, what type of therapy will best help the individual, etc). Also, the family will need to be aware of the disorder and all that it entails, as well as the risk of it being genetic. Most importantly, the patient needs to be willing to try and change their attitude. While these fears may never go away completely, they can be reduced. The final goal of treatment would be for him to be able to not obsess as much about cleanliness and for his disorder to make little to no impact on his daily life.
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6 comments:
Haha, I had the same case study! Your explanation of what OCD is was very detailed and easy to understand. Perhaps you could describe exactly what kinds of therapy or medications might help. Anyway, good job!
Awesome Job Amanda, you know blog kind of got me wondering if I have OCD, I hope i don't. I agree with what Michael said.
Interesting about OCD. Sometimes I get a little picky at being clean too.
I did OCD for my blog 3 scenario! I liked your diagnoses of the patient it was very thorough. your solution was also very good.
Your diagnoses was very thorough and clean. Although you were a little ambiguous about the treatment, that was good, because, as you don't know the history of the patient, you can't just jump into a treatment. Good job!
I enjoyed your explanation of OCD. It was detailed and easy to follow. I wish you had talked a in a bit more detail about the kinds of therapy or medications that may help. Overall, it was great!
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