The Anxiety Disorders Unit -- affiliated with UBC's Dept. of Psychiatry and based at Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre, UBC Pavilion --is seeking volunteers for a new study that will compare different treatment methods for this debilitating mental disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is believed to affect about two per cent of the population, or about 36,000 people in the Lower Mainland, making it one of the most common mental disorders.
OCD is characterized by recurring, unwanted thoughts and impulses that cause suffering and much distress. This compels sufferers to perform ritualistic behaviours to reduce their anxiety.
"OCD is a chronic illness that may wax and wane with the amount of stress in a person's life, but seldom does it go away without treatment. In fact, the longer you go without treatment the harder it is to correct," said Dr. Ingrid Sochting, a post-doctoral fellow who is part of a clinical investigation team helping to conduct the study.
The major classes of OCD include: fear of contamination, resulting in compulsive washing and cleaning; excessive doubting, which leads to constant checking; the need for order, symmetry and exactness; and the need to hoard and collect.
Some also suffer from a sub-class of OCD and have unwanted and intrusive thoughts that are violent, sexual or blasphemous, resulting in feelings of intense guilt.
One such patient successfully treated by Sochting was so distressed by his violent thoughts that he hid all his knives and scissors and bound his hands for fear of harming others, despite the fact he had never hurt anyone in his life.
Once suicidal and unable to work, the patient, a Lower Mainland man in his mid-30s, now holds a full-time job and is beginning to socialize in a normal fashion.
OCD strikes males and females in equal numbers, although it tends to begin earlier among boys, usually in the mid-teeens, as compared with ages 20 to 29 for women.
For several reasons, it takes sufferers an average of seven years before they seek treatment, added Dr. Kent Anderson, another post-doctoral fellow at the Anxiety Disorders Unit.
OCD strikes otherwise capable, bright people who feel intense shame about their obsessions and compulsions. They often become very secretive, making it difficult to detect their condition. As well, 10 per cent of all sufferers are pure obsessionals, who only have unwanted thoughts and may not exhibit much in the way of compulsive behaviours.
Family members, too, often get caught up in rituals because it is easier than trying to change the behaviours.
The study at the Anxiety Disorders Unit will compare the results of two of the most effective psychological treatments that are used as alternatives to medications, which have proven beneficial to only a minority of sufferers.
Researchers are looking for volunteers who suffer from OCD for the study. They will receive 12 group sessions with two therapists free of charge, as well as individual pre-treatment and follow-up assessment to track their progress over time.
During the treatments, patients receive a thorough understanding of what OCD is and how they came to suffer from it. Therapists will gradually expose patients to situations they fear and teach them ways of reducing both their obsessions and any ritualistic behaviours they may have.
The study begins immediately and will run for two years with funding from the B.C. Health Research Foundation.
If you are interested in participating in this study or wish further information call the Anxiety Disorders Unit at 822-7899.