Compulsion

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is classified as an anxiety disorder. Other anxiety disorders are panic attacks, agoraphobia (the fear of public places), phobias (fear of specific objects or situations), and certain stress disorders. This illness becomes increasingly more difficult to the patient and family because it tends to consume more and more of the individual's time and energy. While a person who is suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder is aware of how irrational or senseless the fear is, he or she is overwhelmed by the need to carry out compulsive behavior in order to avoid anxiety that is created if the behavior is not carried out.

Therapists categorize compulsions into motor compulsions and ideational or mental compulsions. A motor compulsion involves the need to use physical action. Touching or hand washing would be classified as motor compulsions. An ideational compulsion involves thinking processes. Examples of ideation or mental compulsions are counting, following a ritualized thought pattern, such as picturing specific things, or repeating what someone is saying in the mind.