subject: Causes Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder [print this page] Obsessive compulsive disorder is basically an anxiety disorder. The major characteristics of this disorder include intrusive thoughts which cause, fear, worry or sometimes even violent behaviour. As symptoms you have excessive washing, checking, being pre occupied by sexual or even violent thoughts, various nervous rituals and so on. These symptoms are extremely time consuming and if you have these symptoms then you will find that you are alienating yourself from everyone else. This is actually the most common mental disease (fourth most common) among people so you dont really have to worry a lot if you have it, there are various treatments.
Before that let us get to know the causes of obsessive compulsive disorder better.
There are basically two main causes of obsessive compulsive disorder. First you have the psychological one and secondly you have the biological one. Let us look at the psychological causes first. Scientists think that OCD might have evolved as the human beings evolved and hence it is literally genetic. The second cause of obsessive compulsive disorder is the biological cause.
Any sort of abnormalities in the neurotransmitter serotonin could actually cause OCD. Setoronin usually has a major role in transmitting any sort of anxiety. Any sort of abnormality with that could actually lead to OCD. Also this is like a genetic mutation. Now although we know the causes you also need to keep in mind that there are lots of risks factors as well. Usually these are age or genetics or life events or personality or drug use and so on.
Age is a major risk factor especially for those in their later adolescence. Gender is another factor. Usually males are more prone to developing this than females. Then you also have genetics which is a cause of OCD as we have discussed earlier. If you have family members who had OCD then you need to keep your eye out for the symptoms because you might just develop it as well. Another cause which is also a risk factor is any life changing event or simply any life events. For example if someone has been abused then he could develop this.
Another risk factor is the personality. A certain type of personality is prone to developing this. Another cause which we also term as a risk factor is drug use. Sometimes you use a drug so much that you manage to develop OCD due to it. You will also find during treatments you will have to restrain from using alcohol or even drugs.
You also have marital status as a risk factor i.e. if you are un-married. Along with this there is also employment status and socio economic status and this could be termed as the causes for OCD as well. You will find that a lot of the causes and the risk factors are similar. And if you do have OCD then there are various treatments available which will help you to cure the condition in very little time.
