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Implications Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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Implications of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Learning and Memory Elsa Mahle The Lawrenceville School Implications of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Learning and Memory Obsessive-compulsive disorder, as defined by Psychology Today, is “an anxiety disorder in which people have undated and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), or behavior that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions).” OCD has implications on everyday life for people struggling with the disease, but specifically, how do OCD and organization (on a lesser scale) affect our memory system, or vice versa? And what implications does this have in our lives as students? What is the cognitive theory outlining OCD? As investigated in this paper, OCD ultimately reduces your confidence in your memory and links to impairments in nonverbal and spatial memory. However, organization on a lesser scale, where the obsession of it does not interfere with your normal routine as it does in OCD, can increase productivity and reduce distractions, thereby strengthening your memory around the material you’re studying. OCD follows a pretty typical cycle, in which patients have obsessions that can become triggered, and when they become triggered, the patient feels anxiety. In order to combat that anxiety, they will try to relive it by creating behaviors, called compulsions. The compulsions temporarily provide relief until the obsessions are triggered again. There are a few common types of OCD:

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