Psychological Basis of Mental Illness Is Certainly

¶ … psychological basis of mental illness is certainly only half of the story. Though mental illness is genetic, the actual symptoms and condition being presented is based on a careful marriage between biological and environmental factors. In particular, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), is a mental illness in which "people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations or obsession, or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something (compulsions)" (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011). This mental illness, like many others is multi-faceted, in that there is a physiological process associated with it, a set of symptoms that manifest, certain diagnostic criterion and then a set of treatment options.

Foremost, the physiological process of mental illness is mainly concerned with the brain and certain regions of it. The physiological process is a process that evaluates the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior. Research examining the brain has found that "a selective deficit in neurobehavioral response suppression in may be related to failures in the development maturation of frontostriatal circuitry" (Rosenberg, 1998, p. 623). Upon further exploration of the physiological the researcher's conclusion, it is safe to conclude that certain neurons have not matured which has contributed to the physiological process of having OCD. Since the neurons are not communicating with each other by all means possible, certain messages and communications are lost, thus leading the obsession and compulsions that an individual might experience.

Furthermore, knowing the physiological process of OCD, there will be certain symptoms that will manifest in an individual when the biological and environmental factors coincide. Symptoms include but are certainly not limited to having "persistent, upsetting thoughts (obsessions) and use rituals (compulsions) to control the anxiety these thoughts produce" (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011). People with OCD have these obsessions and compulsions to such an intense degree that it "interferes with daily life and they find the repetition distressing" (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011)

In order to diagnose OCD in a patient, one must gather information about the over behavioral rituals that are being preformed as well as the cognitive rituals that may also be preformed (Swinson, Richard P., 2001). It is important to gain as much of a detailed composite of the individual suffering from the obsessions and compulsions to truly evaluate what is going on. Additionally, "patients may not be aware that they are engaging in repetitive cognitive activity that serves to reduce anxiety," so in turn, it is important to ask directly "if patients report certain fears but do not report associated behavioral rituals" (Swinson, Richard P., 2001). Finding out as much information about the person's daily life is imperative to diagnosing OCD. Observing a person with OCD may yield observations including seeing the person wash their hands over and over again if they have a certain anxiety about germs or dirt, or may lock and relock their door if they have an anxiety about safety and intruders. Other common rituals include "repeatedly needing to check things, touch things (especially in a particular sequence), or count things" (National Institute of mental Health, 2011).

After diagnosing OCD, treatment is available to people who suffer from the mental illness. Obsessive-compulsive disorder was thought to be incurable and chronic- an illness that would force patients to cope with it for the remainder of their lives. However, there are specific behavioral and pharmacological agents that can alter the severity of OCD and bring relief to those patients that are coping with the illness on a daily basis (Riccardi, 2010, p. 273). Prescription drugs are often the way to treat patients with OCD in current medical practice (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011). In addition, motivational interviewing techniques were used to help treat these patients suffering from OCD. Motivation interviewing is a technique that in which it engages the patient to change his or her behavior by developing "discrepancy" and "resolving ambivalence" within the patient (Riccardi, 2010, p. 276). The point of motivational interviewing is to increase the awareness of the patient's of his or her own actions so that they may evaluate the potential problems caused, the consequences that may have resulted from them and ultimately, the risks that may have occurred because of it (Riccardi, 2010, p. 276). Furthermore, other beneficial techniques include engaging the person suffering from OCD in stress management techniques which can help people with obsessions and compulsions to calm themselves (National Institute of Mental Health, 2011).