Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) solutions from Kaynaz Nasseri,Psychotherapist in LA

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)


Obsessions are extremely upsetting and anxiety-provoking thoughts that are completely foreign to your usual sense of self and what you should be wondering about. Obsessions seem to come from nowhere, are outside your control, and are witnessed as intrusive, inappropriate, and not making any sense. The most common obsessions involve contamination, doubting, ordering, and aggressive or sexual impulses.


Compulsions refer only to those repetitive behaviors that are performed in order to neutralize the anxiety that accompanies an obsession. For example, nonstop hand-washing is an endeavor to alleviate the anxiety triggered by the obsession that one is contaminated. The most poignant aspect of obsessive compulsive disorder is your inability to control the ritualistic nature despite the realization that it is maladaptive and self-destructive.


Certainly, most people that are worried about cleanliness, order, and checking do not have obsessive compulsive disorder. Similarly, OCD does not apply to every off-the-wall thought or every illogical ritual that all seldom succumb to. The core requirement for a diagnosis of obsessive - compulsive disorder is that these thoughts and behaviors cause serious distress, lead to impairment in functioning, or so time-consuming that they interfere with daily life.


The most effective form of psychological therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder is exposure and response prevention. For example, a psychologist will ask someone who is afraid of contamination to play with dirt from a flower pot and is not permitted to wash his or her hands for an hour afterward. At first, exposure causes you sizeable anxiety and a feeling of urgency to carry out the ritual. However, with repeated and systematic exposure to anxiety , you gradually feel less need to perform the compulsion and develop a greater sense of self-control. For younger patients and for milder form of OCD, psychologists recommend psychological therapy as the first treatment used, with medication added after a month or so if there has been no response . For the more severe forms of OCD, medication and psychological therapy in mixture are more likely to produce a fair response.

Kaynaz Nasseri is a psychologist / therapist specializing in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder. Her clinical psychology practice is located in Newport Beach, but she helps patients that visit her from all ofSouthern California, including Orange County, San Diego, and Los Angeles