UPUMS Nsg officer-2023
Mental Health Nursing
Easy

In OCD, ______ are thoughts and ______ are actions.

Appeared in: UPUMS Nsg officer-2023

Explanation

  • In Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the two core symptoms are obsessions and compulsions.
  • Obsessions are defined as recurrent, persistent, and intrusive thoughts, urges, or images that cause significant anxiety.
  • Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts that an individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession.
  • The key distinction is that obsessions are the mental events (thoughts), and compulsions are the behavioral or mental responses (actions) to those thoughts.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

  • Option A: A delusion is a fixed, false belief that is unshakeable, which is characteristic of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, not the intrusive thoughts seen in OCD.
  • Option C: This option incorrectly reverses the correct terms. Compulsions are the actions, and obsessions are the thoughts.
  • Option D: A conviction is a firmly held belief. While a person with OCD can have varying levels of insight (conviction) about their obsessions, the term for the repetitive actions they perform is 'compulsions'.

Related Visual

Visual explanation — Related Visual
Clinical Relevance
  • Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Definition and components of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
  • Correctly identifying obsessions and compulsions is the first step in diagnosing OCD and creating an effective nursing care plan.
  • This distinction is crucial for implementing therapies like Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), where the nurse helps the patient confront obsessive thoughts without performing the compulsive ritual.
  • What if? If a patient's intrusive thoughts were accompanied by a loss of contact with reality and a belief that the thoughts were being inserted by an outside force, the diagnosis would shift from OCD towards a psychotic disorder like schizophrenia, requiring antipsychotic medication rather than primarily SSRIs and ERP.
How to Approach the Question
  • First, analyze the question's structure. It's a fill-in-the-blank question asking for the specific terms for 'thoughts' and 'actions' in the context of OCD.
  • Recall the fundamental definitions of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
  • Define 'obsession' in your mind. It is an intrusive, unwanted thought, image, or urge.
  • Define 'compulsion' in your mind. It is a repetitive behavior or mental act performed to relieve the anxiety from an obsession.
  • Match your definitions to the blanks. 'Thoughts' corresponds to 'obsessions', and 'actions' corresponds to 'compulsions'.
  • Evaluate the given options to find the one that matches your conclusion: Obsessions, compulsions.
Concept Tested & Keywords
  • Concept Tested: Definition and components of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  • Stem keywords: OCD, thoughts, actions
  • Lead-in keywords: BEST, MOST RELEVANT CLUE
  • Negative lead-in flag: false

Question ID

Qo1c46mlGlQjkQXnrz03px

Reference Book

E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) p. 5912-5914

E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) p. 1341-1343

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