This is Esme. She has a disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. When she gets home she has to clean before she can do anything else. She makes sure everything is where it should be, and nothing is left out of place.

Esme's mom understands her and helps her out when she needs it the most.

Her friends know about her OCD, and they don't let it get in the way when they are having fun. She can keep it under control when around other people, and goes to a doctor to have therapy for it. She sometimes uses medication to help with the OCD.

Common, chronic lasting disorder where the person is uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts or behaviors that they feel the urge to repeat over and over.

Obsessions: Repeated thoughts, urges or mental images that can cause anxiety.

Symptoms:

~Fear of germs/contamination

~Agressive thoughts

~Having things symmetrical or in a certain order

Compulsions: Repetitive behaviors that a person feels the urge to do in an obsessive thought.

Common Compulsions:

~ Excessive cleaning or hand-washing

~ Ordering/arranging things

~ Compulsive counting and checking on things

Treatments and Therapies:

~ Treated with medication, psychotherapy, or even both at the same time

~ Some people have other mental disorders and they play a role in choosing what type of therapy they are going to use.

Medication:

~Serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SRI), require higher doses and takes a couple of weeks to take effect

~ If that doesn't work then the doctor may prescribe an antipsychotic medication

Psychotherapy:

~ Effective for adults and children

~ Certain types of therapy include cognitive behavior therapy(CBT), and others like habitat reversal training

~ Exposure and Response Prevention is a type of Cognitive Behavior Therapy