Ocd Essays (493 words) - Psychiatric Diagnosis,

Ocd What is Obsessive-compulsive disorder? Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the anxiety disorders and is potentially disabling condition according to national institute of mental health, NIMH (2000). Individuals with OCD become trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that can be senseless and distressing but are extremely hard to over come. Such as checking things repeatedly (e.g. doors, locks and stoves), constant counting either ?in ones head? or outwardly, etc. Most of theses obsessions are persistent fears that harm may come to self or a loved one, or an unreasonable concern with becoming contaminated, also excessive need for perfection. According to NIMH (2000), sometimes the obsessions are of a violent or a sexual nature, or concern illness. ?Although once thought to be rare, OCD afflicts as many as five million Americans or one in fifty. The disorder is found uniformly in men, women, children and people of all races and socio-economic backgrounds.? (Maidment 1999) According to NIMH (2000), OCD usually begins in adolescence or early adult hood, it may begin in the early childhood years. Onset age is earlier in males between ages 6 and 15 years and between ages 20 and 29 in females. In most cases onset is gradual but some acute onset cases have been noted. Most people with OCD struggle to hide their illness for fear of thought of being ?outcast?, fear of medication and fear of facing ones fears in behavior therapy. ?Usually people hide their illness because of feeling shame for doing/thinking such bizarre things? (Susan F, OC foundation, 1999) They are often successful in concealing their disorder. More often than not they are successful in concealing their obsessive-compulsive symptoms from friends and co-workers. An unfortunate consequence of this secrecy is that people usually do not receive professional help until years after the onset of their disease. By that time, they may have learned to work their lives around the rituals. Treatment for OCD usually comes down to two most effective treatments, which are drug therapy and behavior therapy. It is common that the most effective of these the two can be used together. ?The most effective medications are the SSRI's (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) Prozac, Paxil, Luvox, and Zoloft as well as the Tricyclic Anafranil.? (Saxena, 1999) These medications generally help but decreased symptoms are any where from 40%-95% success, but each individual is varies. The medications can take anywhere from six to twelve weeks to start showing effect. According to NIMH (2000) the primary behavior therapy uses for OCD treatment is exposure and response prevention. This type is usually most effective. Most people with OCD struggle to banish their unwanted, obsessive thought and to prevent them selves from engaging in compulsive behavior. This resistance can lead to a crippling disorder, with OCD so sever that time consuming rituals take over the sufferers' lives, making it impossible for them to continue activities outside the home. Psychology

Due Process essays

Due Process essays "A right to a fair trial". That statement seems so true at first glance, but when you analyze it, you will find the statement to be quite false at times. People are still treated unjustly and feeling uncomfortable with the criminal justice system. The United States Constitution declares us the "right to a fair trial", yet through the years, some U. S. citizens have not recovered that particular right. Because of mistakes like this, people lose faith in this Constitution. In the Constitution, a right to a free trial can be sum up in one method, "Due Process of Law". The 5th Amendment has the first reference of the term "Due Process of Law". At that time the United States was existing during the colonial ages. The country had just won the Revolutionary War and it was to become a new nation of freedom, truth and justice. When our founding fathers came together to build our nation and constitution, they regretted to include all of the people who were living in the U. S. These people that I speak about are slaves. They were not even considered to be citizens nor an integral part of the U. S. This idea started with the Dred Scott Case, which states that slaves were not U. S. citizens, therefore they were not allowed to have a fair trial. When the slaves became "free", for the next ten years they had all of the rights that were promised to them. Unfortunately, everything usually comes to an end. In 1875, a new President was in office and the Jim Crow laws spread all over the land. When this law began to spread, all of the rights of free slaves began to disappear and cast its ugly shadow over the country. You might think that I am being too dramatic, yet history has shown the extreme loss of rights of some Americans. Minority citizens, mainly African Americans, went through these hardships and tribulations. All of this was mainly due to the fact that "Due Process of Law" did not exist with the Jim Crow Laws. Af...