Emily Colas

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Emily Colas is an American author. Her book Just Checking: Scenes From the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive illustrates her struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and the effects it had on her life and family. [1] [2] She lives in Los Angeles.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder</span> Personality disorder involving orderliness

Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is a cluster C personality disorder marked by a spectrum of obsessions with rules, lists, schedules, and order, among other things. Symptoms are usually present by the time a person reaches adulthood, and are visible in a variety of situations. The cause of OCPD is thought to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors, namely problems with attachment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoarding disorder</span> Behavioral pattern

Hoarding disorder (HD) or Plyushkin's disorder, is a mental disorder characterised by persistent difficulty in parting with possessions and engaging in excessive acquisition of items that are not needed or for which no space is available. This results in severely cluttered living spaces, distress, and impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Excessive acquisition is characterized by repetitive urges or behaviours related to amassing or buying property. Difficulty discarding possessions is characterized by a perceived need to save items and distress associated with discarding them. Accumulation of possessions results in living spaces becoming cluttered to the point that their use or safety is compromised. It is recognised by the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5).

Scrupulosity is the pathological guilt/anxiety about moral or religious issues. Although it can affect nonreligious people, it is usually related to religious beliefs. It is personally distressing, dysfunctional, and often accompanied by significant impairment in social functioning. It is typically conceptualized as a moral or religious form of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), The term is derived from the Latin scrupus, a sharp stone, implying a stabbing pain on the conscience. Scrupulosity was formerly called scruples in religious contexts, but the word scruple now commonly refers to a troubling of the conscience rather than to the disorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Monk and the Candidate</span> 1st and 2nd episodes of the 1st season of Monk

"Mr. Monk and the Candidate" is the two-part pilot episode of the American comedy drama detective television series Monk. It introduces the character of Adrian Monk, a private detective with obsessive–compulsive disorder and multiple phobias, and his assistant Sharona Fleming, as well as police officers Leland Stottlemeyer and Randy Disher. In this episode, Monk investigates an assassination attempt on a mayoral candidate.

Catholic guilt is the reported excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics. Guilt is remorse for having committed some offense or wrong, real or imagined. It is related to, although distinguishable from, "shame", in that the former involves an awareness of causing injury to another, while the latter arises from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, or ridiculous, done by oneself. One might feel guilty for having hurt someone, and also ashamed of oneself for having done so. Philip Yancey compares guilt to the sensation of physical pain as an indication that something should not be ignored but attended to.

The Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is a test to rate the severity of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms.

The obsessive–compulsive spectrum is a model of medical classification where various psychiatric, neurological and/or medical conditions are described as existing on a spectrum of conditions related to obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "The disorders are thought to lie on a spectrum from impulsive to compulsive where impulsivity is said to persist due to deficits in the ability to inhibit repetitive behavior with known negative consequences, while compulsivity persists as a consequence of deficits in recognizing completion of tasks." OCD is a mental disorder characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions. An obsession is defined as "a recurring thought, image, or urge that the individual cannot control". Compulsion can be described as a "ritualistic behavior that the person feels compelled to perform". The model suggests that many conditions overlap with OCD in symptomatic profile, demographics, family history, neurobiology, comorbidity, clinical course and response to various pharmacotherapies. Conditions described as being on the spectrum are sometimes referred to as obsessive–compulsive spectrum disorders.

Jeffrey M. Schwartz is an American psychiatrist and researcher in the field of neuroplasticity and its application to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He is a proponent of mind/body dualism and appeared in the 2008 film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, in which he told interviewer Ben Stein that science should not be separated from religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compulsive behavior</span> Habit and impulse disorder

Compulsive behavior is defined as performing an action persistently and repetitively. Compulsive behaviors could be an attempt to make obsessions go away. Compulsive behaviors are a need to reduce apprehension caused by internal feelings a person wants to abstain from or control. A major cause of compulsive behavior is said to be obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "The main idea of compulsive behavior is that the likely excessive activity is not connected to the purpose to which it appears directed." There are many different types of compulsive behaviors including shopping, hoarding, eating, gambling, trichotillomania and picking skin, itching, checking, counting, washing, sex, and more. Also, there are cultural examples of compulsive behavior.

Primarily obsessional obsessive–compulsive disorder, also known as purely obsessional obsessive–compulsive disorder, is a lesser-known form or manifestation of OCD. It is not a diagnosis in the DSM-5. For people with primarily obsessional OCD, there are fewer observable compulsions, compared to those commonly seen with the typical form of OCD. While ritualizing and neutralizing behaviors do take place, they are mostly cognitive in nature, involving mental avoidance and excessive rumination. Primarily obsessional OCD takes the form of intrusive thoughts often of a distressing, sexual, or violent nature.

Misophonia is a disorder of decreased tolerance to specific sounds or their associated stimuli, or cues. These cues, known as "triggers", are experienced as unpleasant or distressing and tend to evoke strong negative emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses that are not seen in most other people. Misophonia and misophonic symptoms can adversely affect the ability to achieve life goals and enjoy social situations. It was first recognized in 2001, though it is still not in the DSM-5 or any similar manual. For this reason it has been called a "neglected disorder".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obsessive–compulsive disorder</span> Mental and behavioral disorder

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and feels the need to perform certain routines (compulsions) repeatedly to relieve the distress caused by the obsession, to the extent where it impairs general function.

Stanley Jack Rachman was a South African-born psychologist who worked primarily with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders. He spent much of his career based in the UK and Canada.

Susan Swedo is a researcher in the field of pediatrics and neuropsychiatry. Beginning in 1998, she was Chief of the Pediatrics & Developmental Neuroscience Branch at the US National Institute of Mental Health. In 1994, Swedo was lead author on a paper describing pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS), a controversial hypothesis proposing a link between Group A streptococcal infection in children and some rapid-onset cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or tic disorders such as Tourette syndrome. Swedo retired from the NIH in 2019, and serves on the PANDAS Physician Network.

<i>The OCD Project</i> American TV series or program

The OCD Project is an American reality television series that debuted on May 27, 2010. The series follows Dr. David Tolin and his exposure-based treatment of six patients living together in a Southern California mansion. The treatment, called exposure and response prevention, can seem unorthodox, but is the leading evidence-based treatment for OCD.

Just Checking by Emily Colas is an account of her experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Divided into four sections, Colas provides snapshots of her life in a journal like manner. The text conveys her emotions regarding the disease throughout her entire life including her childhood and her role as a mother herself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Goodman</span> American psychiatrist and researcher

Wayne Goodman is an American psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He is the principal developer, along with his colleagues, of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith L. Rapoport</span> American psychiatrist

Judith L. Rapoport is an American psychiatrist. She is the chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Joanne Limburg is a British writer and poet based in Cambridge. She has published three books of poetry for adults, one book of poetry for children, a novel and two books of memoirs.

References

  1. Miller, Laura (June 24, 1998). "My syndrome, myself". Salon . Archived from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  2. Wesley, Joya (August 23, 1998). "Worrying 'Round the Clock". News & Record . Greensboro, North Carolina. pp. F5. Retrieved January 26, 2010.