Help for obsessive-compulsive disorder

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 1995

Actress Joan Crawford was suffering from it when she asked her maid to wax a tree. Millionaire industrialist Howard Hughes had it when he stuffed window cracks full of tissue paper to keep out germs. So did 18th-century English playwright Samuel Johnson in making bizarre twisting movements every time he walked under a door. What they all were afflicted with was obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an illness which traps people in seemingly endless cycles of repetitive thoughts that won't leave their minds (obsessions) and in feelings that they must repeat certain actions over and over (compulsions) to avert disaster.

Phebe Tucker, a psychiatrist at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, explains that OCD impels them to spend large amounts of time participating in odd rituals, such as counting over and over to a certain number, checking locks, electrical outlets. and light switches: hoarding items like old newspapers or containers; repeatedly putting clothes on and then taking them off; or visiting the police station to make sure they haven't killed somebody. Approximately three percent of the population suffers from this condition.

"This disease is known as the 'doubting disease,' because it's as if the mind doesn't register when the person turns off a light switch or unplugs the iron. The more they check, the more unsure they are. They may literally be unable to leave their house because they have to keep checking on the source of their obsession."

Tucker offers answers to frequently asked questions regarding the disorder:

If I check under the bed and behind doors at night, does that mean I have OCD? No, everybody checks a little bit. Most may go back and check the coffee pot or garage door once or twice, but then they dismiss it from their minds and go on. The person with OCD can not stop checking and worrying.

Can people have only obsessions or only compulsions? Yes, about 20% of those with OCD have only obsessions or only compulsions, but most (80%)have both. Hughes, for instance, had a "contamination" obsession, coupled with a compulsion of stuffing window cracks and having delivered documents wrapped in special tissue paper to keep out germs.

What are the most common obsessions? The fear of getting dirty or infected; fear of AIDS; disgust over body wastes or secretions; concern that a task has been done poorly or incorrectly; fear of thinking evil or sinful thoughts; extreme concern with certain sounds, images, words, or numbers; recurring thoughts about harming or killing others or oneself; or fear of impending disaster. Accompanying rituals might include incessant cleaning or grooming, touching certain objects in a specific way, counting, or checking.

What causes OCD? It usually occurs in men and women between the ages of 18 and 20, although it can arise during childhood or later in life. OCD is thought to be genetic and often occurs in conjunction with depression.

What is the prognosis? If left untreated, obsessions and compulsions may become so time-consuming that individuals no longer can function at home, at school, or on the job. Long viewed as an untreatable condition, OCD now can be controlled with the newer serotonin re-uptake inhibitor antidepressants such as Anafranil, Prozac, Paxil, or Zoloft. Behavior therapy also reduces anxiety associated with obsessive thoughts and increases tolerance and time spent between rituals.

FORECASTING

Global Apocalypse

Is Exaggerated

Some environmentalists claimed that natural resources would run out in the 1980s and the world would face global famine - with 65,000,000 Americans succumbing in a "Great Die-off" between 1980 and 1990. Neither forecast proved accurate, notes Ronald Bailey, author of Eco-Scam.

Other false "doomsday predictions," he told the World Future Society, included dire warnings of skyrocketing pollution, a coming ice age, an ozone hole over America, and global warming. Bailey argues that large numbers of people have come to believe these gloomy predictions because "so many interest groups have a stake in making them afraid. 'Global emergencies' and 'worldwide crises' keep hundreds of millions of dollars in donations flowing into the coffers of environmental organizations."

Why are so many prophecies of environmental doom made? According to University of Maryland economist Julian Simon, "Religious and environmental prophets through the centuries have issued grim warnings of the future - hell on Earth, or hell - to scare people into changing how they live. The biblical prophets sought (and seek) to change sexual behavior, moral behavior with regard to treatment of the poor, and government corruption. The environmental prophets seek to change consumption behavior - to get people to use fewer natural resources, live simpler lives, and refrain from] policies of economic growth."

Simon believes that society's increasing wealth stirs up a fear among some people that humans eventually will have to pay for their good fortune. "In brief, the Empire of Nature must strike back. Construction now means destruction in the future. We must pay the piper's price sometime, because we've overdrawn our account with nature."