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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Christina on August 6, 2002, at 12:54:49
Hi.
Can you describe the manifestations of OCD?I'm not sure if what I'm suffering from is OCD, Anxiety or I'm just a worry-wart as my kids call me.
I worry excessively about my children, finances, etc, and I tend to focus on a particular issue or problem until I'm convinced it will end in catastrophe.
As far as I know, I don't have any other compulsive or repetitive habits that are a hallmark of OCD.
Can anyone help me understand what I'm going thru?
Posted by Essence on August 6, 2002, at 18:01:33
In reply to Please describe your OCD symptoms/experience, posted by Christina on August 6, 2002, at 12:54:49
When I was in the throws of my last depression I obsessed non-stop about everything. I would wake up obsessing and go to sleep obsessing, but I didn't have the compulsive component of OCD. I worried about everything, even things that were out of my control, and had non-stop ruminating thoughts about possibly hurting someone, going crazy etc.
Posted by Dinah on August 6, 2002, at 20:31:22
In reply to Please describe your OCD symptoms/experience, posted by Christina on August 6, 2002, at 12:54:49
You might also consider the possibility of generalized anxiety disorder, since you are worried about many things.
My OCD comes in the form of intrusive thoughts like "I left the dog in the car and she will die of heat prostration." Now I can remember that the dog is not in the car and is still at home, but the thought keeps recurring. Or it might be something like "I ran over a person" when in reality I rode over a curb, and I darn well know it. But the thought won't leave and comes along with huge amounts of anxiety and the urge to go back and check that I didn't run over anyone. But of course checking once the thought is that I just didn't check well enough, that I still ran over someone, and that I need to go back and check again.
I mostly use cognitive behavior techniques to deal with the thoughts.
Posted by Shawn. T. on August 6, 2002, at 20:49:20
In reply to Please describe your OCD symptoms/experience, posted by Christina on August 6, 2002, at 12:54:49
I have been looking at OCD from a bipolar angle, but a lot of what I've read on this subject involves anxiety issues. I am of the opinion that DSM-IV often induces psychiatrists into believing that certain conditions are "all or nothing." Treatment resistant major depression (or other mental health disorders) often involves a comorbidity, sometimes more than one. Here are some studies involving atypical OCD:
"Utilizing the DSM-III-R schema, we have investigated lifetime comorbidity between panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PD), social phobia (SP) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on the one hand, and mood disorder on the other. Compared with PD, the results for SP and OCD showed significantly higher numbers of comorbid anxiety and mood disorders. In addition, SP and OCD were significantly more likely to cooccur with each other than with PD. The complexity of these comorbid patterns is underscored by the finding of significantly higher numbers of anxiety disorders in those with lifetime comorbidity with bipolar (especially bipolar II) disorder. We conclude that the comorbidity between anxiety and mood disorders - conventionally conceived as the relationship between anxiety and unipolar depressive states -- might very well extend into the domain of bipolar spectrum disorders in a subset of these disorders. Among the latter, the spontaneous or antidepressant-induced switches into brief disinhibited (hypomanic) behavior can be conceptualized to lie on a dimensional continuum with the temperamental inhibition (or constraint) underlying the anxiety disorders under discussion."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9840370&dopt=Abstract
"Univariate analyses showed that episodic OCD had a significantly lower rate of checking rituals and a significantly higher rate of a positive family history for mood disorder. Multivariate stepwise discriminant analysis revealed a positive and significant relationship between episodic course, family history for mood disorders, lifetime comorbidity for panic and bipolar-II disorders, late age at onset and negative correlation with generalized anxiety disorder."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8826686&dopt=Abstract
"To explain this possible relationship, we hypothesize that impulsivity and bipolarity (or mania) are related, that compulsivity and unipolarity (or depression) are similarly related, and that each state may represent opposing poles of related, or even a single, psychological dimension."
"In a sample of 453 OCD patients, 76% had suffered from a major depression, 11% from bipolar disorder (DSM IV mania or hypomania), 30% from hypomania (cases that obtained a score > or = 10 on the self-rated Angst Hypomania Checklist). According to the score > or = 10 on Self-rated Questionnaire for Cyclothymic Temperament, 50% were classified as cyclothymic."
"In case of BP comorbidity, patients had presented a greater number of concurrent major depressive episodes and suicidal attempts."
"The present paper presents further comparative analyses between OCD with (n = 302) versus without cyclothymia (n = 272). The sub-group "Cyclothymic OCD" is characterized by a different clinical picture (higher frequency of aggressive, impulsive, religious and sexual obsessions, and compulsions of control, hoarding, repetition), episodic course, higher rate of major depressive episodes (with more intensity and recurrence) associated with higher rates of suicide attempts and psychiatric admissions, and less favorable response to anti-OCD treatments."
"The mania group had a lower level of insight into the social consequences of illness than the other two groups, and compared with the group with depression, they had a lower level of insight of poor attention and of poor social judgment. As to axis I comorbidity, obsessive-compulsive disorder was found to be significantly more frequent in depression than in mania."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8923100&dopt=Abstract
"Out of ten consecutive patients with DSM-III-R obsessive-compulsive disorder without any previous history of bipolarity, three patients showed antidepressant-induced hypomania (clomipramine, one patient; fluvoxamine, two patients) within the first 5 to 8 weeks of the drug treatment. These data support the previous results on a strong association between obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar affective illness."
"A growing number of epidemiological studies have found that bipolar disorder significantly co-occurs with anxiety disorders at rates that are higher than those in the general population. Clinical studies have also demonstrated high comorbidity between bipolar disorder and panic disorder, OCD, social phobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychobiological mechanisms that may account for these high comorbidity rates likely involve a complicated interplay among various neurotransmitter systems, particularly norepinephrine, dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and serotonin."
"Several reports have noted cases of OCD which were unusual in showing an abrupt remission. We report longitudinal clinical observation of four cases of acute onset OCD without major depression through a variety of treatments. These patients had prominent feelings of shamefulness; compared to patients with typical OCD they were ill for months rather than years and were older. Two had previous episodes of psychiatric illness with full recovery. Full and persistent recovery occurred in response to lithium or an acute course of ECT but not to tricyclic or SSRI antidepressants. The generalizability of these observations is limited by its uncontrolled nature and the small numbers. The courses observed were consistent with episodic OCD as a possible expression of bipolar disorder and consideration of corresponding treatments."
Shawn
Posted by d miller on August 6, 2002, at 21:15:43
In reply to Re: Please describe your OCD symptoms/experience, posted by Shawn. T. on August 6, 2002, at 20:49:20
You sound like you suffer more from GAD generalized anxiety disorder. I was told by my counslor that people who suffer from GAD usually worry about averyday thing, money, family, health, etc.
I have GAD with the obsessive part of OCD because I will also obsessive all day long on things.
This gives me alot of anxiety, Clonzapam has worked well for my anxiety, it just makes you a little tired. But at least it calms that horrible anxiety.
d.miller
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