Final Proposal

The fourth most common mental illness in the world is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and millions of people suffer with the agonizing thoughts that come along with it.  People who are diagnosed with OCD struggle with obsessive thoughts that tend to interrupt their daily life along with relationships they hold with people.  The cause of OCD is unknown but, there have been links to strep throat in children and pregnant women who get OCD symptoms.  There are so many unknowns tied to OCD and that was one of my primary motivations to write this paper.  The brain chemistry behind OCD is similar to depression, the brain doesn’t produce enough Serotonin and medications are very necessary for controlling these chemical levels in the brain.  Prozac is one of the most common antidepressants a person with OCD will take but, it comes with some risky side effects such as suicidal thoughts and actions.  A family coping with someone who suffers with OCD can be very difficult and compromise some relationships within the family dynamic.  A person with OCD attempts to block out painful thoughts by performing compulsively and this may interrupt their daily life and in that case requires diagnosis and medication.  The unknowns tied with OCD are very intriguing to me along with me having a personal tie with the mental illness goes along with the idea of OCD altering the family dynamic.