Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

There are a growing number of researchers that believe OCD should be removed from the category of anxiety disorders and be classified as a completely separate diagnostic category.

They list several reasons:
•Characteristics different from other anxiety disorders
•Prevalence
•The neurobiological differences
•Medications typically used to treat anxiety disorders can have little to no affect on OCD

What are your opinions on OCD? Should it be removed from anxiety disorders or in fact go into a seperate category? What is your reasons for or against the move.

I think some times we do repetitive compulsive actions when we are paranoid or experiencing anxiety, such as biting our nails. But for the most part people with OCD are not obsessive because of anxiety or paranoia, so I agree with the premise of separating the two things.

reply to post by RobFox

Ahhh, your first thread. Way to go and put yourself out there. OCD... I have family members that have certain compulsions. One is hand washing. It is hidden from view. If I didn't know the person so well, I wouldn't know it. But her son is doing it now. He's eight. He doesn't try to hide it yet. I know that he gets it from her. So is it learned behavior. From someone close? In this case.

I think that trying to hide the disorder is different than other forms of OCD. Like chewing fingernails for instance. You can't hide that. So one is a bad habit and the other a learned behavior. One is copied or "trained", the other anxiety driven.

Years ago they determined that OCD was caused by a build up of antibodies needed to fight strep infections. So people who get chronic strep throat infections tend to have a build up of these antibodies. These antibodies have an adverse effect on brain chemistry resulting in OCD.

I have OCD pretty bad and I've noticed it gets worse with anxiety, not because of it. So I don't see why they should class them together. Drugs don't help it only will power and a lot of self control will.