The obsessive- compulsive disorder

The obsessive- compulsive reaction may become incapacitating, as in one patient who became so obsessed with cleanliness that she spent virtually the whole of every day washing and rewashing her hands. Anxiety may lead to phobic reactions. For example, an individual who experiences an attack of anxiety while riding in a car, or bus, or air- plane may link his anxious feeling to the vehicle and thereafter try to avoid riding in such a vehicle. 

If anxiety attacks develop in other situations, he may avoid these, too, until his activities become tragically limited. Because of abnormal anxiety, some people develop problem personalities, dealing with their internal conflicts by assigning the blame to society. Some may become psychotic, unable to deal with reality at all.

Many develop psychosomatic conditions. There is virtually no system of the body that may not be disturbed to some extent by abnormal anxiety: the heart and blood vessels (high blood pressure, fainting, angina pectoris, migraine, coronary artery disease); the respiratory sys- tem (asthma, nasal stuffiness, chronic sinusitis); the gastrointestinal tract (ulcer, gastritis, colitis, constipation); the genitourinary tract (urinary disturbances, painful menses, sterility); the skin (eczema, acne); the glandular system (diabetes, pernicious vomiting of pregnancy, pre- menstrual tension). 

Anyone who realizes he is suffering from anxiety should seek help. By doing so, he can prevent more serious anxiety or anxiety panic states and also possibly prevents the onset of a psychosomatic illness.

His 1 physician may be able to provide the help; if not, he can direct the patient to a psychiatrist. As we shall see in a later chapter, there are available today many forms of psychiatric treatment, some quite brief yet helpful. The patient who has physical problems that may be linked with anxiety needs reassurance that they are really so linked and that no serious underlying physical disease process is at work. 

This can come only from expert medical examination and diagnosis. Unfortunately, many patients who seek medical help fail to reveal anxieties. They should. There is no shame. Reporting anxieties may save needless oversearching for physical causes that may not exist and may permit quicker, more effective treatment. This is equally true when it comes to mental depression.