A Case of a Patient Displaying Comorbidity

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Darien is a patient who possibly displays comorbidity. His symptoms lead me to believe that he could possibly be diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Darien’s symptoms that point to OCD are that he has rituals he must complete and if he does not he becomes anxious and is unable to continue with his day. He is however aware that these rituals are not actually helping him but he cannot stop doing them. He also reports feeling anxious most of the day, especially if he cannot perform his rituals, and that he is becoming increasingly more anxious. He is also unable to keep himself from worrying and feeling anxious.

Darien’s past could help unlock some clue to his current situation. He had a relatively normal childhood. He grew up as an only child and his parents have remained married for his entire life. His mother has a history of anxiety. Darien has said that during his childhood he always remembers her being constantly worried about him and also being overly involved in his life. His father on the other hand was always distant and Darien never truly felt like his dad enjoyed spending time with him. Darien was always a good student in high school but he found the extra workload of college very difficult. He did not want to appear to be a failure to his parents so he would simply drop his courses if he was feeling overwhelmed. This is also when he started making schedules because he felt they would help him cope with his stress levels.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorders have been found to have many causal factors. Many of these are cultural and one possibility is that religion plays a part in severity of symptoms, like obsessive thoughts. Because of Darien’s past history and heavy involvement...

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