There are many people, especially teenagers, who are affected by eating disorders. Eating is important in life, but your life is not all about eating alone. Eating disorders can affect your health and your relationships also. This is a mental illness, in fact, a serious mental illness, but it can definitely be treated. People of any age or sex can be affected by this health issue. It is important to identify it at an early stage and treat it.
Well, there is no clear answer to what the actual cause of eating disorders is. Some recent studies say that it is a range of psychological and biological factors that result in an eating disorder.

Let s have a look at five interesting facts about eating disorder
FACT #1 Affected people look healthy:
People with eating disorders may look healthy and fit, but when you observe them closely, you will understand that they are extremely sick and need help. Anxiety, loneliness, depression and anger are some mental conditions which you may not be able to see unless you observe them closely.

FACT #2 Eating disorders are of three types:
Eating disorders are classified basically into three types. The first one is called Anorexia Nervosa, which is the fear of becoming fat. The second one is Bulimia Nervosa. This refers to the habit of binge eating followed by self-induced vomit. The last one is the Binge Eating disorder where people eat uncontrollably in just one sitting.

FACT #3 It is a not women disorder:
Eating disorders are seen mostly in women, but this is not a problem faced by just women. Both men and women may be affected by eating disorders. It is common for men and women to feel some kind of pressure when they see unwanted changes in their body shape and size. That can cause eating disorders.

FACT #4 It disturbs the normal life:
The impact of eating disorders can be seen in all aspects of your life like problems in your relationship, problems with your family and friends, your colleagues, your education, your workplace and such similar aspects. Your thoughts and emotions regarding your food and weight issues are going to be constant in case you suffer from eating disorders.

FACT #5 It can be life threatening:
Eating disorders can lead to suicide. Every year, there are a lot of deaths reported due to eating disorders. Out of so many different kinds of eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa is the most life threatening. The death rate due to this kind of eating disorder is 12 times higher than the other kinds. People between the age group 15 to 24 attempt suicide.

Eating disorders can be treated and you need to talk to a specialist if you really want to get out of it. Your one step can save your life.

Eating Disorder - 5 Facts About It!

OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder, which can be indicated through obsession, having pervasive thoughts or thoughts, which may upset you, having certain compulsions, and practicing certain rituals, which may help to control or manage your obsessions. It is a disorder, which cannot be cured, but can be controlled with the help of treatment. Mostly, OCD is considered to be a lifelong disorder. It often circulates around the fear of germs or sickness and around keeping order and maintaining patterns. A person suffering from OCD can often be extremely annoying. Hence here are a few tips you can use to deal with OCD:

1. Understand OCD: The first step towards dealing with OCD is to know what you have to deal with. Gather as much information as you can about OCD and also read up about how you can overcome it. You need to know the symptoms of OCD so you can identify the disorder. Almost everyone suffers from OCD at one point of their lives. Hence, it is extremely important to understand OCD in order to treat it.

2. Work with your compulsions: Do not get petrified about your compulsions if you are planning to overcome your OCD, instead work with them. Try not to encourage their development. If you are worrying about whether you have switched of the lights, try and develop a mental picture of you doing it. If you are able to get a clear picture, then you have, otherwise you can go and switch it off. Another option is to maintain a list where you tick off the activity once you have done it so that you don't have to worry about it later on. 

3. Maintain a journal: Maintaining a journal will help you curb your fears and negative thoughts. Write down all your obsessive thought and reflect on how they are affecting you and whether they are worth your worry or time. Gradually you will see that you are able to control these thoughts and will be able to push away any negativity which comes along with them.

4. Remind yourself about the good in you: Make this your regular practice. Do not undermine yourself, instead make yourself feel good. This will help you to get over the fact that you have done something wrong in your daily activities (like not turning the gas off when you actually have) and that wrong is going to harm people.

Chronic OCD will require therapy and medical assistance. Hence if you are able to detect the signs at an early level and are able to adopt the above measures to control it, then going to a doctor might not be necessary.

Tips to Deal With Ocd

All or most of us have the habit of double checking if the house is locked before leaving home or cleaning the house extensively till it is spotlessly clean. But if such behavior becomes an obsession that you can't help doing it and go about it compulsively to the extent that it affects your normal life, it might be a case of OCD. OCD which is the acronym for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a chronic disorder in which a person has uncontrollable reoccurring thoughts and an unavoidable urge to perform a particular activity over and over.

How to know if it is OCD?

People affected with OCD have both, obsessional and compulsion symptoms. Obsessions are repeated thoughts, images and urges that create anxiety in human mind like fear of contamination or germs, expecting things to stay in perfect order, feeling taboo against caste, sex religion, and corresponding harm and so on.
Compulsions are repetitive actions performed by an OCD patient in response to his or her obsessional thoughts which may include excessive washing, cleaning, arranging things in a particular way, repeated checking out things or work done, counting things over and over again and more.
However, not all repetitive actions are signs of OCD. It's common to see a person checking a crucial work done by him twice. This becomes obsessive when a person is not able to control his thoughts and activities, gets distressed about not performing those activities and spends a significant amount of time in a day on these tasks.
Who are vulnerable to OCD?
The causes of OCD are not yet clearly known. However, people have higher chances of developing OCD when their first-degree relatives are affected by the problem. Moreover, the risk goes even higher when the first-degree relative was affected at his young or teenage. Researchers are still working to find the link between OCD and genes so that causes, diagnosis, and treatment of OCD get better in future.

Studies have also revealed that there might be some connection between OCD and abnormalities in some regions of the brain. People who experience traumatizing experiences in their childhood or during their life are highly susceptible to OCD. However, such ideas have not yet been proved.

How can the condition be managed?
OCD is treated with psychotherapy, meditation, or a combination of both. However, some medicines help to get over OCD and its symptoms. But the best way to help an OCD patient is if he can himself get his obsessions and compulsion under control. Medicines will always help OCD symptoms but might have some side effects.

The OCD symptoms may come and go, go easy over time or worsen. Patients might identify the problem themselves or might fail to understand the abnormalities in their lifestyle. If a person feels that he/she is being affected by OCD, there is a need to consult the doctor before it disturbs the normal life.

An Insight On Obsessive Compulsive Disorder!

Shannon L. Alder once said,  Sensitive people usually love deeply & hate deeply. They don't know any other way to live than by extremes because their emotional thermostat is broken. 

Sometimes certain thoughts & habits become so addictive at times that even while being aware of its futility the person fails to resist from indulging in it. Obsessive Compulsive Disorders can be extremely debilitating & can easily thwart subjective well-being. The main features of this illness are obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are certain thoughts, doubts, images or urges that occur in one's mind. These are unwanted, repetitive by nature. Most people with OCD realize that obsessions are senseless, irrational, or excessive, but they are unable to ignore or suppress them. They would attempt to resist and control them, but would not succeed. Obsessions cause significant distress and anxiety to the sufferers and as a result cause interference in their day to day functioning.

Compulsions are repetitive acts that the person is driven to carry out in spite of knowing that they are meaningless, unnecessary or excessive. Compulsions are usually in response to obsessions. For example, a person with an obsessive fear of contamination washes hands repeatedly in order to ensure that his or her hands are clean. The person attempts to resist repeated hand-washing, but gives in to the urge so as to relieve him or herself of the anxiety or discomfort. Persons with OCD often perform certain acts repeatedly to avoid some dreaded event or to prevent or undo some harm to themselves or others. For instance, touching the floor even number of times to prevent an accident.

They are aware most of the time that the activity is not connected in a logical or realistic way with what was intended to be achieved, or that it may be clearly excessive (as in the case of hand-washing compulsions), but cannot control them as they reduce anxiety, at least transiently.

Common Symptoms in OCD:

Some common obsessions-

- Fear of getting dirty, contaminated or infected by persons or things in the environment.

- Blasphemous thoughts.

- Thoughts of harming or killing others or oneself.

- Doubts that a task or assignment has been done poorly or incorrectly.

- Recurring thoughts or images of sexual nature.

- Fear of blurting out obscenities.

- Fear of developing a serious life-threatening illness.

- Preoccupation to have objects arranged in a certain order or position.

Some common compulsions:

- Repeated hand-washing, taking unusually long time to bathe, or cleaning items in the house.

- Ordering or rearranging things in a certain manner.

- Checking locks, electrical outlets, gas knobs, light switches etc. repeatedly.

- Repeatedly putting clothes on, and then taking them off.

- Counting over and over to a certain number.

- Touching certain objects in a specific way.

- Repeating certain actions, such as going through a doorway.

- Constantly seeking approval (especially children)

What are not obsessions?

The common usage of the word obsession as in,  he is obsessed with music  is not an obsession as used in the context of OCD. Here the person indulges in the activity with complete will, has control over them and derives pleasure out of the activity.

When one is fired from a job or loses someone close to them, it is natural to brood over the event. However, these thoughts are not considered as senseless or irrational, though they may cause some discomfort. Similarly, a person appearing for an examination may feel anxious and worry about the results, which could occupy considerable amount of his time. These thoughts, though unwelcome, are under his control and not experienced as senseless. The above experiences are obviously not obsessions. The common usage of the word obsession as in,  he is obsessed with music  is not obsession as used in the context of OCD. Here the person indulges in the activity with complete will, has control over them and derives pleasure out of the activity.

Treatment:

Your clinical psychologist might subject you to anyone from a variety of treatment strategy available based on the severity of the condition and course of illness. Client specific psychological treatment is recommended according to unique triggers and patterns of obsessions/compulsions.

Cognitive Behavioral therapy comprises of a variety of techniques used to modify or replace maladaptive thoughts, emotions and behaviors with more adaptive forms of the same. Obsessions and compulsions seen in OCD are examples of maladaptive behaviors as they cause significant distress and interfere with normal functioning of an individual. Behavior therapy helps to remove obsessions and compulsions and thereby ameliorate the distress.

In treating OCD several CBT techniques are used. One of them,  Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) , is the most effective and widely used technique.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - All You Should Know!

Being a perfectionist is not wrong until it does not stop you from working according to your priorities. However, when you struggle to go on with your regular routine and seem to concentrate on one particular thing, again and again, it is time you seek expert advice.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD is a medical term that refers to obsessions or excessive thoughts leading to compulsions of repetitive behaviours. A person suffering from OCD usually has recurring thoughts that he or she has no control over, which leads to developing uncountable urge of repeating behaviours over and over.

The condition is long-lasting and chronic, and when not attended to as early as possible, usually brings in difficulties to the patient in leading a normal life. Continue reading to know about its symptoms and how it can be diagnosed.

Symptoms
The symptoms of OCD can be divided into two types, symptoms of obsession and the other is symptoms of compulsion.

Obsession Symptoms:

Spending more than normal time on one s obsessions, which results in disrupting one s social, professional, and personal activities.
Having the same images, urges, and thoughts again and again which the patient has no control over.
Losing the control over his/her anxiety and anger and acting on the urge of harming others or one s self.
Having unwanted and inappropriate sexual thoughts, especially developing obsessions with incest and homosexuality.
Being extremely obsessive and concerned about the fear of contamination that includes threats from the germs, dirt and even body fluid.
Compulsion Symptoms:

Constant cleaning and washing, especially washing one's own hands again and again.
In cases of mental compulsions, tendency to repetitively review events mentally, repetitive praying for harm prevention, etc.
Repetitively checking of the body parts or things around to be sure that nothing has happened to them.
Repeating routines such as reading the same page over and over.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive behaviour may consist one or various medical examinations that include,

Physical examination: Physical examination is performed in order to eliminate the probability of the presence of any other complications or illnesses.
Psychological evaluation: Psychological evaluation is all about discussing the feelings, thoughts, symptoms, and behaviour of the patients.
Laboratory-based tests: Usually, a complete blood count or CDC is included in the lab tests where the presence of drug or alcohol and the function of the thyroid is analysed.
Reference to the OCD diagnostic criteria: This step includes referring to the standard OCD diagnostic criteria to determine whether the patient is suffering from OCD or not.
Affecting people of all ages, OCD traps its victims in a cycle of compulsions and obsessions. Though a complete cure to this illness has not yet been discovered, still, with right treatment at the right time can be very effective in controlling of the symptoms while helping the patient to lead a normal life.

Depending upon the condition of the patient, the severity, and type of OCD, a psychiatrist can offer the best treatment in the form of therapies or talk sessions, or medications or a combination of both.

A Brief Overview Of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Its Symptoms, And Diagnosis!

Many live with certain disorders without being aware of it. It is possible that someone close to you is living with OCD, and knowing the symptoms is crucial to diagnose the problem accurately and the treatment can be started as early as possible. 

OCD or the obsessive-compulsive disorder refers to excessive thoughts leading to repetitive behavior or erratic personal behavior. This long-lasting and chronic mental disorder induces recurring and uncontrollable thoughts in a person. These types of behavior are medically referred to as  obsessions' and  compulsions'.

Patients suffering from the disorder feel a strong urge to repeat certain actions over and over again. These actions may include compulsive cleaning of the immediate domestic environment, washing hands or clothes, checking on things, etc. These behavior patterns may lead to severe disruptions in the daily life of the affected individuals.

How do you know if you have OCD?
Some of the common symptoms of obsession are fear of dirt or physical  contamination , a constant urge to properly arrange or re-arrange domestic objects, having aggressive and sexual thoughts, harboring a desire to harm oneself or others, etc. Common examples of such thoughts include an irrational fear of physical  contamination , feeling depressed at the sight of a lack of symmetry, thinking about acting inappropriately, shouting obscenities, etc.

Some of the common symptoms of OCD include repeatedly washing hands, compulsive counting, checking again and again on certain things, etc. For instance, patients may frequently check whether doors and windows have been secured inside an apartment, or whether the oven is switched on or switched off, etc.

What can influence such behavior?
OCD is an outcome of imperfect brain structure or specific chemical abnormalities in the brain. Genetics is also a possible causative factor. No one single reason is found as the main cause of this psychological disorder. Therefore, the exact reason behind this mental disorder eludes science till date. Many studies indicate that environmental factors may trigger this mental condition. For example, sexual or physical abuse in childhood or infections like streptococcal can trigger the subsequent development of OCD.

How can OCD be managed?
OCD can be treated with psychotherapy, medication, and a combination of both. The ideal treatment is determined by the condition of the patient and to which mode of treatment he or she is most responsive. When opting for antipsychotic medication, one needs to discuss this with his or her doctor to understand the benefits and side effects before commencing the medication. When it comes to treating the children or the adults, psychotherapy offers the most effective results.

Patients and their caregivers must realize that OCD does not have a surefire cure. Therefore, it may last for years or sometimes even a lifetime. However, proper psychological evaluation, therapies, and treatment should prevent the condition from worsening. These interventions help in controlling and managing the symptoms to ensure a long normal life. Patients are advised to visit a psychologist in case they identify any signs of OCD because early detection is the first step to effective treatment.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - What Can Influence Such A Behaviour?

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