Anxiety disorders are mental health conditions, which adversely affect social life and the quality of life itself. Of all the types of psychiatric disorders, little attention has been given the fourth most common in the United States. This is obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, a treatable disease. A person with OCD has persistent thoughts and performs repetitious or obsessions and useless tasks in order to control these thoughts or compulsions. The preoccupation can be crippling and disturb his personal functioning. It can negatively affect his health and incur unnecessary costs. Records show that approximately 4 million Americans are afflicted with OCD but that only one in every four is correctly diagnosed and treated for it. This is because most people consult or seek assistance for physical conditions more than mental conditions. But it occurs in men and women in comparative proportions. OCD usually begins in childhood or adolescence among men and in the 20s among women.
             Like anxiety, OCD arises from the brain malfunction or neurotransmitters, which prepare the body for danger. Theorists suppose that OCD develops from inappropriate ways of thinking. Evidence indicates that it occurs in families. Signs of symptoms are disturbing thoughts and repetitive acts or rituals. Common examples are frequent washing of hands, checking of locks and other security measures, which use up many hours of the day. More than half to almost all of OCD patients reported that their symptoms disturb their relationships, school progress and work performance. OCD symptoms induced suicide in some sufferers. The clinician arrives at a diagnosis from interaction with the patient, his past history and a neurobehavioral mental status exam.
             Current management includes medication, cognitive behavioral therapy and education. It is popularly treated with serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The paper recognizes the critical role played by the nurse in...