Psychology A2 · Clinical Psychology. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.
In ICD-11, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) means persistent obsessions, compulsions, or usually both. Obsessions are repeated thoughts, images or urges that are intrusive, unwanted and cause anxiety, such as fear of contamination or of harming someone. Compulsions are repeated behaviours or mental acts, such as washing, checking, counting or silently repeating words, done to reduce that anxiety.
For a diagnosis the symptoms must be time-consuming (for example more than an hour a day) or cause marked distress or problems in daily life.
OCD is measured with psychometric tools: the MOCI questionnaire and the Y-BOCS interview. Case studies such as Rapoport's 'Charles' add rich qualitative detail.
Calling a silent act, such as counting or praying in the head, an obsession. If it is done on purpose to reduce anxiety or prevent harm, it is a compulsion, even though nobody can see it.
Answer: 25 out of 40: quantitative data showing OCD of high severity, which can be compared with a later score to measure change.
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