Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Trivia Quiz

Answer: Judith Rapoport

This is the book that brought OCD awareness into the public. A landmark when it was first published in the 1980s, some of its information treatment-wise is now a bit outdated but the book is a classic in the field of OCD literature nevertheless.

Answer: SSRIs

SSRIs include such drugs as Prozac, Zoloft, and others that are known to significantly help OCD sufferers.

Answer: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor

A common phrase in the world of OCD and other anxiety disorders.

Answer: Major depression

Common symptoms of OCD include checking, counting, repeating, a need to have something 'just right,' fear of contamination, and other rituals.

Answer: True

Unfortunately true. The effects of this ugly disorder can make a person so terrified of, for example, contamination, that they wash endlessly, worrying that they might have 'missed a spot' here or there or that some germ has made its way over to them in the last few seconds so they need to wash again. A deadly cycle indeed.

Answer: Hair pulling

Trichotillomania is the compulsive pulling of one's hair. People pull for different reasons and at different times and no matter how they try, they cannot stop themselves from doing it.

Answer: False

OCD sufferers do NOT enjoy performing their rituals and compulsions but cannot stop doing so. They are subject to intense and unbearable anxiety unless they do so and the compulsions are a way of getting rid of the anxiety.

Answer: Obsessions

Compulsions and obsessions are the two keywords of OCD. A person has an obsession, say with fear of the house burning down, so she will check the stove over and over again to make sure that it is off. A person with an obsession with contamination may have the compulsion of washing their hands hundreds of times a day. Obsessions cause compulsions, and carrying out these compulsions temporarily relieves the anxiety brought on by the obessions.

Unfortunately, the relief is short lived and soon the sufferer feels the need to perform the compulsion again, and again, in a never ending cycle.

Answer: Cognitive behavior therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a useful kind of therapy where OCD sufferers are trained to replace the bad, anxious thoughts that arise when they, for example, touch a coin percieved to be dirty, with more positive thoughts such as 'I'm safe. It can't hurt me. I'm going to be okay,' until over time the anxious thoughts are replaced with the more productive positive thoughts and reactions.

Answer: Borderline Personality Disorder

Tourette's Syndrome, characterized by different tics (involuntary movements of the body, which are both physical and oral) often accompanies OCD. In this disorder, one might see rapid and involuntary jerks of the head or other seemingly strange movements which are uncontrollable to the person making them.

The person also may emit certain involuntary sounds or grunts, which are vocal tics. Attention Deficit Disorder and depression also frequently will accompany OCD, although certainly not always.