Posted by & filed under Introduction To Psychology, Personality, Psychological Disorders and Therapy, Psychology Update, Stress and Health Psychology.

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Pandemic Anxiety Is Fueling a Rise in OCD Symptoms

 

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This is a very long and extremely comprehensive article that not only discusses Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, the causes and treatments, but also, more importantly, how the pandemic has increased the incidence of the disorder.  The article begins with an anecdotal case about Roasalyn.   “Rosalyn (from the case) is one of the 2.3% of American adults diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. OCD is caused principally by excessive activity in the amygdala, a walnut-sized structure at the base of the brain that processes fear, danger and the fight-or-flight response. The disorder can manifest as compulsive, repetitive behaviors; an anxiety about getting ill or spreading germs; or an excessive sense of responsibility, and an intense fear of causing risk to others, as in Rosalyn’s case. Even people without an official diagnosis are affected; about 25% of Americans will exhibit at least some obsessive-compulsive behavior at some point in their lives, according to a 2008 study published in the journal Nature.  The pandemic has made life much worse for people with OCD symptoms. New research shows that OCD symptoms have gotten more severe for many people during the pandemic, and new diagnoses have increased. More and more people are turning up in doctors’ offices with new cases of the condition. “Studies have consistently shown that people without OCD have scored higher on our OCD assessments than they did before the pandemic,” says Andrew Guzick, a clinical psychologist at the Baylor College of Medicine. “They are exhibiting more OCD-like behaviors and reporting more intrusive fears characteristic of OCD.”  

The article discusses the difficulty with treatment of this type of contamination OCD and the problems with the usual successful treatment of ERP (exposure and response prevention).   The article goes in depth about the issues and also presents a brief 2-minute video.   For students who want to understand OCD and treatments, this is a great resource.   For the professor, the article provides many examples that can be used in teaching.

 

SOURCE

Time, January 20, 2022, by Jeffrey Kluger

 

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://time.com/6140256/ocd-covid-19-anxiety/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share-article&utm-term=health_covid-19

 

(Tiny URL)  https://tinyurl.com/2p85scn9

 

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

•First, what is OCD?  

•According to professionals, how has OCD manifested during the pandemic?  Please give at least three examples.

•What are the usual effective treatments for OCD?  Why have professionals found that treating sufferers of OCD been more difficult during the pandemic?

 

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