INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

INTRODUCTION TO MOVIE

“Matchstick men” is a famous movie of the year 2003 with a rating of 7.6/10 at the
IMDB in which the famous actor Nicolas Cage plays the role of an obsessive-

compulsive con artist with his partner Sam Rockwell. During the first hour, they show
the tricks of the con artist trade of how they scam people out of their money without
using a gun. They are selling $50 water filters to people for over $300 and promising
them that they have won a big prize, which they will never receive. As they are about to
pull off a really big con, Alison Lohman, who is the 14-year-old daughter of Cage, arrives.
She has never seen her father and now she has put the big swindle in jeopardy.
However, Cage puts her to work and turns her into a little con artist.

1
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

NEUROSIS

It is a type of Psychological disorder in which individual is in contact with the reality

and the social environment.

Any of various mental or emotional disorders, such as hypochondria or neurasthenia,

arising from no apparent organic lesion or change and involving symptoms such as
insecurity, anxiety, depression, and irrational fears, but without psychotic symptoms
such as delusions or hallucinations

ANXIETY DISORDERS

Anxiety is a feeling of unease. Everybody gets anxious when faced with a stressful
situation, for example before an exam or an interview, or during a worrying time such
as illness. It's normal to feel anxious when you face something difficult or dangerous,
and mild anxiety can be a positive and useful experience.

Anxiety is a normal reaction to stress. It helps one deal with a tense situation in the
office, study harder for an exam, and keep focused on an important speech. In general, it
helps one cope. But when anxiety becomes an excessive, irrational dread of everyday
situations, it has become a disabling disorder.

Anxiety disorders are blanket terms covering several different forms of abnormal and
pathological fear and anxiety which only came under the aegis of psychiatry at the very
end of the 19th century. Current psychiatric diagnostic criteria recognize a wide variety
of anxiety disorders.

There are many types of Disorders that are categorized in these types of psychological
disorders that are mentioned below

o General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

o Specific Phobia
o Agoraphobia
o Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
o Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

2
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by

uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive, ritualized behaviours you feel
compelled to perform. If you have OCD, you probably recognize that your obsessive
thoughts and compulsive behaviours are irrational – but even so, you feel unable to
resist them and break free.

Like a needle getting stuck on an old record, it causes the brain to get stuck on a
particular thought or urge. For example, you may check the stove twenty times to make
sure it’s really turned off, you’re your hands until they’re scrubbed raw, or drive around
for hours to make sure that the bump you heard while driving wasn’t a person you ran
over.

O OBSESSIONS

Obsessions are involuntary, seemingly uncontrollable thoughts, images, or impulses

that occur over and over again in your mind. You don’t want to have these ideas – in
fact, you know that they don’t make any sense. But you can’t stop them. Unfortunately,
these obsessive thoughts are usually disturbing and distracting.

O COMPULSIONS

Compulsions are behaviours or rituals that you feel driven to act out again and again.
Usually, compulsions are performed in an attempt to make obsessions go away. For
example, if you’re afraid of contamination, you might develop elaborate cleaning rituals.
However, the relief never lasts. In fact, the obsessive thoughts usually come back
stronger. And the compulsive behaviours often end up causing anxiety them as they
become more demanding and time-consuming.

3
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

CAUSES OF OCD

The old belief was that obsessive compulsive disorder was the result of life
experiences but now this belief has been weakened because of the growing evidence
that biological factors are a primary contributor to the disorder. The fact that OCD
patients respond well to specific medications suggests that the disorder has a
neurobiological basis. For that reason, OCD is no longer attributed only to attitudes a
patient learned in childhood--for example, an inordinate emphasis on cleanliness.

O BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

In an effort to identify specific biological factors that may be important in the onset of
OCD, The National Institute of Mental Health-supported investigators have used a
device called the positron emission tomography (PET) scanner to study the brains of
patients with OCD. Several groups of investigators have obtained findings from PET
scans suggesting that OCD patients have patterns of brain activity that differ from those
of people without mental illness or with some other mental illness.

O BEHAVIOURAL FACTORS

Other theories about the causes of OCD focus on the interaction between behaviour
and the environment and on beliefs and attitudes, as well as how information is
processed. These behavioural and cognitive theories are not incompatible with
biological explanations.

O ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Environment, some researchers believe that OCD stems from behaviour-related habits
that you learned over time.

4
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

SYMPTOMS AND EFFECTS

Most people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have both obsessions and
compulsions, but some people experience just one or the other. The symptoms of
obsessive compulsive disorder may wax and wane over time. Often, the symptoms get
worse in times of stress.

COMMON OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS

 Fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others

 Fear of causing harm to yourself or others
 Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images
 Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas
 Fear of losing or not having things you might need
 Order and symmetry: the idea that everything must line up “just right.”
 Superstitions; excessive attention to something considered lucky or unlucky

COMMON COMPULSIVE BEHAVIORS

 Excessive double-checking of things, such as locks, appliances, and switches.

 Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they’re safe.
 Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other senseless things to
reduce anxiety.
 Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning.
 Ordering, evening out, or arranging things “just so.”
 Praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious fear.
 Accumulating “junk” such as old newspapers, magazines, and empty food
containers, or other things you don’t have a use for.

EFFECTS OF OCD

The severity of the problem varies a lot. Obsessional problems can and do take over
lives, making regular employment or family life impossible. People find they have little
or no time for anything other than a pattern of checking or worrying or washing. When
troubled by their OCD people experience high levels of discomfort. Sometimes this is
anxiety, sometimes it is feeling miserable or depressed, other times it is just a very
unpleasant feeling that things are not right.

5
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

STANDARD DIAGNOSE CRITERIA

According to the DSM, "The essential features of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder are
recurrent obsessions or compulsions, that are severe enough to be time consuming or
cause marked distress or significant impairment." The following specific diagnostic
criteria are reproduced verbatim from the DSM-IV TR.

Characteristic Symptoms

1) Either Obsessions or Compulsions

o Recurrent and persistent thoughts.

o The thoughts, impulses, or images are not simply excessive worries about
real-life problems.
o Repetitive behaviours (e.g., hand washing, ordering, checking) or mental acts
(e.g., praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the person feels driven
to perform in response to an obsession

2) At some point during the course of the disorder, the person has recognized
that the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable.

3) The obsessions or compulsions cause marked distress, are time consuming

and significantly interfere with the person's normal routine and
relationships.

4) If another Axis I disorder is present, the content of the obsessions or

compulsions is not restricted to it.

5) The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a
drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition.

Duration
 Continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least three months. This
three month period must include at least one month of symptoms.

6
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

TREATMENTS FOR OCD

Getting professional help is the best way to deal with OCD. Treatment can help you to
gain control over your obsessions and to stop carrying out compulsions. Treatment may
include psychological treatments, medicines or a combination of these.

SELF-HELP

Self-help books, CDs and DVDs, and support groups can be helpful. It can help to write
down your obsessive thoughts rather than try to suppress them, in order to get more
control of them. In fact, when you try to push a thought away, the opposite often
happens - you bring it to mind. On the other hand, try to resist carrying out compulsive
behaviour or thinking, because each time you give in to it, your belief that it can stop
bad things happening gets stronger.

Don't use recreational drugs or alcohol to control your feelings as this can have a
negative impact on your health and wellbeing.

Some people find relaxation techniques or exercise improves their anxiety.

TALKING TREATMENTS

The most effective types of talking treatment for OCD are those that help people adapt
their behaviour or the way that they think (cognition).

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is usually recommended first. It involves sessions

with a therapist either individually (in person or over the phone), or in a group. The
therapist will usually suggest a type of therapy called exposure and response
prevention therapy.

This involves gradually learning to confront the situation you fear (exposure) without
using your usual compulsive behaviour to cope with the anxiety (response prevention).
For example, if your obsession focuses on cleanliness your therapist might ask you to
use a public telephone or touch a door handle without washing your hands afterwards.

Although many people find exposure response therapy distressing to begin with, the
anxiety associated with the situation gradually eases as you learn to deal with your fear.
The number of sessions you need depends on how severe your OCD is.

7
 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

 MEDICINES

Your psychiatrist may prescribe medicines to treat OCD. The most effective medicines
aim to restore the balance of serotonin in the brain. These drugs, such as selective
serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are also used to treat depression, and work by
reducing feelings of anxiety. Clomipramine (Anafranil), a different type of
antidepressant, is another option.

This is the treatment method used in the movie by “ROY”

It can take at least 12 weeks after starting medicines for OCD before you notice an
improvement. Your doctor may need to increase your dose if initial doses don't help.
You will need to continue taking SSRIs for at least a year. People react to SSRIs
differently, so you may need to try a number of medicines before you find the right one
for you. If you stop medication, you will usually be advised to do so gradually, as your
symptoms may return once you stop taking the medicine.

HOSPITAL TREATMENT

Most people don't go into hospital for OCD unless they have another mental health
problem, such as an eating disorder or schizophrenia. If you have very severe
symptoms, you can't look after yourself properly or if you have thoughts about suicide,
your GP may suggest further treatment.

Brain surgery is not recommended as a treatment for OCD. However, very rarely, if your
OCD is severe and other treatments haven't helped, you may be eligible for surgery.
Your doctor will first need to assess whether you are suitable for surgery. You will need
to give your consent before any surgery can take place.