3/31/2023 

English 110 

The City College of New York 

Professor Vicars

Research Topic Thesis Points

Opening Thesis Statement 

1. “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a violent brain/anxiety disorder that can debilitate a person’s daily life.”

Points and Evidence

1. It is time-consuming
   1. Compulsions can take up hours of the day (https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/what-is-obsessive-compulsive-disorder#:~:text=A%20diagnosis%20of%20OCD%20requires,women%20than%20men%20are%20affected.)
   2. “I once did 5,128 steps in a single morning according to my fitness tracker-…- I was pacing around my house, trying to get rid of an obsession – “ (https://psychcentral.com/ocd/ocd-and-productivity#How-OCD-can-be-distracting)
2. It is damaging
   1. OCD shows a reduction of gray matter in some regions of the brain (https://healthmatch.io/ocd/ocd-effects-on-the-brain#frequently-asked-questions)
   2. Short circuits communication regions of the brain (https://michaelgquirke.com/how-does-ocd-impact-the-brain/)
   3. “Depression found to be in 40% of OCD suffers and suicidal ideation was found in 52 % of patients” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5479089/)
3. Not talked about
   1. “Stigma or lack of knowledge about the condition can make an individual feel as if people won’t understand or accept you, which can lead to isolation.” (https://psychcentral.com/ocd/ocd-and-isolation#does-ocd-cause-isolation)
   2. “One of the most heartbreaking aspects of my son Dan’s descent into severe obsessive-compulsive disorder was his progressive isolation from his friends – -Their compulsions might be so time-consuming that there is simply no time to interact with others; OCD has taken up every second of their lives.” (https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/ocd-and-isolation/)

Conclusion 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a violent and recursive condition, that encourages repetitive behaviors that can take hours out of a day to ease anxiety (compulsions) caused by obsessions and unwanted thoughts in the brain. OCD not only damages cognitive function at a neural level but also damages the emotional health of a sufferer by inducing waves of high anxiety, followed by crashes of depression, sometimes even leading to suicide. Isolation and fear perpetuate the condition by convincing the sufferer to spend their energy on compulsions and that they need to hide their thoughts and behaviors from the public to not cause more anxiety. OCD is combated with exposure through therapy, educating friends and family, and allowing obsessions to persist while practicing resisting performing compulsions.