PSY 209 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, Salvador Minuchin, Mclean Hospital
Document Summary
Persistent, uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to eng. Obsession is the thought, compulsion is the behavior. Person experiences unwanted, intrusive thoughts: ex. / obsessed with germs; not wanting to shake hands, open doors. Engage in compulsion (temporarily relieves the anxiety: washing hands 200x a day. Severe disruption in lifestyle: distress regarding the disorder; they know it is irrational but have no control. Exposure (in vivo, real life) and response prevention (cannot engage in typical response: ex. Obsessed with germs; put person in room with germs and disorder and take off handles off the sink. After yelling and fear, person begins to sit and perform deep breathing techniques. Cannot have sympathetic activation (flight or fight response, william cannon: heart rate increases, blood pressure; however it will eventually go down. Systematic desensitization: exposure technique where one is exposed to what they fear by imagery: construct a hierarchy of feared images.
