Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Research Paper Example

There is an unclear definition and diagnosis of OCPD in the healthcare industry. In the majority of OCPD literate and studies suggest OCPD is often mistaken for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD is a disease of repetitive behaviors such as washing of the hands repeatedly. There is a needs for more OCD studies concerning the causes, preventions, and gender and genetics factors of OCPD. The OCPD has a lack of defined clinical symptoms that concede that the person suffers from OCPD. There is a clinical problem of using identified symptoms and signs that determine the patient has OCPD which undermine the DSM-IV criteria. This problem prevents the accurate diagnosis of OCPD (Hertler, 2013, pg.1). The first clear signal that the problem exist is the confusion between a patients being diagnosed as OCD instead the proper diagnosis of OCPD. They have two different distinctive treatment plans that may lead to the improve outcomes for the patient.

The Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) can be describe as a disease that keeps the individual preoccupied with the control of their surroundings, stringent rules and logical orderliness for any task. This OCPD disease is often confused with a person that has excessive ritualistic behaviors that washes their hands excessively. OCPD is a disease that is describe as person who chronically has disorder of being perfect while being fixated on every insignificant detail. In an empirical study by De Rues and Emmelkamp (2010), indicated that the results of the NESARC study showed that often the OCPD disease is misdiagnose as mood disorder or OCD.

Furthermore, the longer the patient is misdiagnosed it takes longer for treatment plans to work effectively. This person will fight for the control of their environments space which leads to episodes of distressful behaviors. They are primary overbearing and they are never wrong (Columbia University Medical Center, 2012, pg.3).The person that excessively washes his or her hands is not OCPD but rather it is the common symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The purpose of this study is to provide supporting empirical research that proves the healthcare industry is the misdiagnosing of OCPD and confusing it with OCD. In addition, to proving that the best treatment plan that works for OCPD is psychotherapy.

Causes

The medical community has not identified the primary cause of OCPD however, the disease started at a younger ago which was not diagnosis by the physician or by the parents. The OCPD is very difficult to diagnosis in children because they can labeled overactive or very detailed student or they want to be right to a fault. The medical community has suggested that the OCPD illness could be caused from genetics. There are problem a family history of OCPD in the immediate family that has gone dormant for generations. Another cause that has been possible is the individuals childhood environment plays a major role in determine the cause of OCD.

There are some causes that the medical community believes is a cause for OCPD such as imbalance brain disorders, stressful parenting, the child’s culture, genetics, or environmental influences (MedlinePlus, 2013, pg2). There has been some assumed causes of OCPD such as genetics. The overall medical consensus is not been enough research has not been completed to identify specific documented causes OCPD.

Symptoms

The symptoms of OCPD are different from those of OCD. The individual that has OCPD has a tendency to stress perfectionism regardless of the outcome. They always feel anxious in any interaction where they believed someone is challenging them not being right. They must be right in all phases of work, life, and relationships. One of the everyday signs of a person with OCPD is hoarding. They will hoard money, they will hoard food, or they will hoard anything regardless whether it enters their personal space or not. As result, interpersonal relationships are complex while putting daily excessive demands on spouse and children. The person with OCPD has a set of internal standards that is write as the truth nothing but the truth. If those standards are challenge on any simple level, the person will lash out. The person with OCPD probably has early signs of this affliction as a child or adolescent. The parents probably thought the child was detailed and intelligent for paying attention to trivia details. It was probably easy for the student to go undiagnosed because of the level of attention to school work or testing. The OCPD at an early stage would pay attention to painstaking rules to the point of losing the point of any given activity.

Treatment Plans

There is no cure for OCPD however, there is various treatment plans that provide the patient with relief. The treatment options for OCPD include medications prescribed by a physician. The drug Prozac has been known to help reduce some of the daily anxiety and depression the OCPD patient’s experiences. The empirical study by De Rues and Emmelkamp (2010), indicates that best treatment plan that works for patients is psychotherapy. The use of medication along with psychotherapy can produce the best results when treating anxiety.

There several drug treatments used for OCPD which are antidepressants, inhibitors, and serotonin. In addition, the long-term psychodynamic therapies can be beneficial for OCPD patients. For the prescriptions for OCPD Lexapro, Zoloft and Prozac have proven effective (OCD Resource Center of Florida, 2011, pg.2). In some incidences, the therapy and medication may be the best treatment for the patient. The individual being hospitalized does not happen that often unless the patient has some extreme trigger that cause the anxiety attack. The combination of drugs, therapy, and long term treatment all contribute to controlling the negative impacts of OCPD.

Environment and Genetics

The researchers have found that both environmental and genetic factors contribute to the cause of OCPD. The genetic theory suggest that individual that inherit the DRD3 gene with have probably develop OCPD especially males. The males have OCPD more than the women. However, this deadly disease cannot be detected or show any signs until a major stressful event activates the DRD3 thus causing OCPD (Malchow, 2007, pg.3). The environmental conditions can contribute to the OCPD disease such as the parents that do not understand the child illness and they are overly protective that invades the child’s personal space. The environmental theory suggests the OCPD is a behavior that was learned during childhood. The child personal space was control, and invaded constantly by the parent or teacher who themselves was obsessive over the child’s every move.

Cognitive

The part of the brain that is affected by OCPD is the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe controls personality, emotions, attention, concentration, and mental flexibility. The person with OCPD has problems with depression, anxiety, personality changes, and aggression which describes the actions of a person with OCPD. The cognitive properties of the brain control the individual’s ability to follow social rules of behavior which they may ignore those rules. The frontal lobe controls the cognitive activities of a person that has problem with anxiety (Brain Injury Alliance, 2013, pg.1). The researchers have found that the OCPD disease impacts the person’s production of serotonin. The brain needs serotonin to help control the part of the brain that controls emotions.  There is research that has identified specific brain areas that contribute to the OCPD disease. “Some specific brain regions have been identified which may mediate OCD, namely the caudate nucleus and orbitofrontal cortex (Neurotic Planet, 2009).

Conclusion

The OCPD disease impacts the individual but the family is devastated as well. Normally, the OCPD patients do not have very good relationships with their spouses. The medical industry constantly mixes up the diagnosis of OCPD and OCD that delays the patient rehabilitation periods. This type of mistake has the patient on the wrong type of treatment plan. The OCPD has been documented that this disease did not start at the adult stage, but at the child’s early stages of life. The OCPD is very tough to diagnosis because they can labeled as very detailed but high strung. The symptoms of OCPD are very different from OCD yet many clinical diagnosis mix up the diseases.

The individual that has OCPD patient is a perfectionist regardless of the environment of home or work. They always feel anxious in any interaction where they believed someone is challenging them not being right. They must be right in all phases of work, life, and relationships. The symptoms of OCPD are different from those of OCD. They must be right in all phases of work, life, and relationships. One of the everyday signs of a person with OCPD is hoarding. There is no cure for OCPD however, there is various treatment plans that provide the patient with relief. The treatment options for OCPD include medications prescribed by a physician. The drug Prozac has been known to help reduce some of the daily anxiety and depression the OCPD patient’s experiences. The bottom line is OCPD affects millions of people each years. “Obsessive-compulsive disorders affect millions of Americans, who fill their days and nights with obsessive thoughts and worries and compulsive activity such as rituals and other repetitive behaviors” (Clark & Purdon, 2005).

References

Clark, D. & Purdon, C. (2005). Overcoming obsessive thoughts: How to gain control of your OCD. Oakland, CA. New Harbinger Publications.

Columbia University Medical Center. (2012).Center for OCD and related disorders. Retrieved from http://www.columbia-ocd.org/educational.htm

De Rues, R. & Emmelkamp, P. (2010.Obsessive-complusive personality disorder: A review of current empirical findings. Personality and Mental Health.6, 1-21

Hertler, S. (2013).Understanding obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Sage Open Publications.3, 1-10

Malchow, I. (2007). Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder. Retrieved from http://web109.srv4.sysproserver.de/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_personality_disorder.html#Anankastic_personality_disorder

MedlinePlus (2013).Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000942.htm

Neurotic Planet. (2010).What’s on your mind? Retrieved from http://www.neuroticplanet.com/ocd.php

OCD Resource Center of Florida. (2011). Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Retrieved from http://www.ocdhope.com/oc-personality-disorder.php