OOO CD CD C D........OCD! Okay, I'm done.

Due June 18th, 2007

When walking down the 16th Street mall here in Denver,CO., you may see a homeless man trying and wanting to sell the holey shirt right off his back, or you walk into Starbucks and see a man in the corner seemingly talking to himself and making repetitive hand motions. Little do you know that most of the weird things you see daily are no fault of the person presenting those actions; it may be a medical disorder, and even beyond that, a mental disorder. According to the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation, 1 in 50 adults suffer from a mental disorder called Obsessive Complusive Disorder (OCD).

To first understand this mental disease, the name has to be dissected. Obsession means to have an obsession- to be preoccupied with a fixed idea. Compulsive means to be conditioned by compulsion which means to impulsively act without pre-thought or whether or not it is rational to act in that manner. Disorder means to have a defect on the functions of the mind or body.

According to Rob Lang, who wrote a short booklet called Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, there are four elements that are key to identifying whether or not someone is suffering from this disease. (Lang15.) One. Identification of the actual problematic habit. Two. Determine the "time frame" of the problematic habit takes up within one day. Three. You must find out how discomforting the problem is and how it plays in with the patients everyday life. Finally, when not in the act of the problematic habit, how much effort is needed to control it?

Point blank. Identifying the problem is fairly simple, but the underlying question is what is the actual cause of OCD? I will be researching what OCD is, the possible causes, and treatments used.

Is it a borne illness? Is it attained and developed by physical means? (environment, daily habits) Is there a cure? If so, what is it? If not, what are the ways of coping and dealing with OCD? How do you interact with a person with OCD? Do they need to be treated differently from others?

With the help of Doctor A.J. Allen, who wrote Kissing Doorknobs, I will find out the "blueprint" of what OCD is. The medical reasoning and defects found in the brain that causes OCD. About OCD, I hope to furthermore find the causes of OCD and the possible treatments for the disorder.

Over the next couple of weeks within the week of June 24th, 2007 to July 9th, 2007, I will searching secondary-sources. I hope to find peer-reviewed articles on actual cases of patients with OCD. I also will be seeking to try and find treatments for OCD and how a person with this disorder needs to be treated differently if needed. I hope to find those articles in the databases of the Auraria Library and using the major search engines such as LexusNexus, Skyline, and CQ Researcher. During the week of July 9th, 2007, I hope to be generating my annotated bibliography. Within that same week I will start my final paper. I hope to be finished with the rough draft by the week if July 30th, 2007, giving me about a week left to let my peers proof-read and myself correct my flaws.

I want to be educated on this topic I know all of us have encountered "weird" situations in our lives. Situations where you observe a certain individual acting out of the "norm." The first thought that probably comes to your mind is that that individual is weird, crazy, on some type of drug, ect. Hopefully by educating you on this common disorder, I will be able to change your perception of the disorder and your viewpoint of that certain individual. I hope that you will not only recognize that disorder, but form some sort of empathy for that certain individual and the obstacles that individual has to face everyday.

******************Works Cited********************
Dictionary.com
Long, Rob. Obsessive-Compilsive Disorders. Great Britain: David Fulton Publishers, 2005.
Hesser, Terry. Kissing Doorknobs. New York: Delacorte Press, 1998
Obsessive Compulsive Foundation.