Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder 

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder in which time-consuming obsessions and compulsions interfere significantly with an individual’s daily routine, making work and social interactions more difficult. OCD often begins in childhood or adolescence, and afflicts millions of men and women from all walks of life.

Obsessions are recurring thoughts, images, or impulses that cause distress. Individuals with OCD may be aware that their obsessions are excessive but be unable to control them through logic or reasoning. Obsessions may include acute anxiety about contamination or harm, the need for exactness, or forbidden sexual or religious thoughts. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors that the individual feels driven to perform in order to reduce the distress caused by the obsession. Compulsions may include cleaning, hand washing, checking, ordering and arranging, or hoarding.

OCD can be effectively treated through a form of cognitive behavioral therapy known as exposure and response prevention. During therapy sessions, patients are exposed to situations that cause anxiety and provoke the compulsive behavior or mental rituals. Through exposure and training, patients learn to reduce their anxiety and the accompanying ritualistic behaviors. A class of medications known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) has also proven helpful in treating OCD.

Essential Guides to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

American Psychiatric Publishing (APPI), a division of the American Psychiatric Association, publishes textbooks and manuals for psychiatrists who treat children and adults suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders.

	Trichotillomania, Skin Picking, and Other Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors fills a critical gap in the medical literature by bringing together the latest research on these common but often misunderstood body-focused repetitive disorders.
	Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders: Refining the Research Agenda for DSM-V documents the proceedings of a research planning conference convened by the APA, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health on recent advances in psychiatric diagnosis that suggest a new approach to obsessive-compulsive disorder classification.
	Clinical Manual on Impulse Control Disorders sheds light on the complex world of ICDs, such as intermittent explosive disorder, childhood conduct disorder, self-injurious behavior, sexual compulsions, binge eating, trichotillomania, kleptomania, compulsive shopping, pyromania, pathological gambling, and internet addiction

View a complete list of books about obsessive-compulsive disorder.