Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder explained by Cockerham as having both biological and psychological causes playing a role (2011). The disorder is often accompanied by two main features, states the AllPsych website: The main features of this disorder include obsessions (persistent, often irrational and seemingly uncontrollable thoughts) and compulsions (actions used to neutralize obsessions) (2011). In the journal article, Understanding Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Students: Symptoms and School-Based Interventions, it states: "Common obsessions in children and adolescents include intrusive fears related to germs, contamination, harm to themselves or others and to death" (Dyches, Leininger, Heath, and Prater 2010). Bruce's chapter Mental Illness as A Psychiatric Disorder explains how compulsions are actually a neutralizer for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder: “The goal of these compulsions is to prevent or reduce anxiety or distress rather than to provide pleasure or gratification. Generally, compulsions are attempts to reduce anxiety about an obsession” (1999). An example of this would be someone who feels the need to check things over and over again even though everything is as it should be. The thoughts are uncontrollable and always present, so it becomes an obsession and the only way to relieve the thoughts is to act out the compulsions. For a behavior to be classified as obsessive-compulsive disorder, it must be problematic to daily routine and cause clear impairment in daily functioning. Examples could be, as previously stated, someone who needs to control everything, this can be problematic when it comes to time and getting things done that need to be done. Also... middle of paper... only get treated by a doctor. It is not possible to diagnose OCD unless a doctor determines that it is the underlying problem. Treatment cannot be prescribed except by a doctor who diagnosed you with OCD in the first place. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a widely known disorder and this is why I have chosen to explain it using the medical model, due to its ability to have unique and specific characteristics that are well known as well as having a biological cause. This disorder fits the approach very well because, like the model, obsessive-compulsive disorder deals with dysfunctions of the brain that in turn cause obsessions and compulsions that can be treated. Looking at all the models discussed in class I feel that this approach better suits the disorder I have chosen and helps more to explain what the disorder really is.