I was a little upset when I read of a man who I thought had classic OCD but truly suffered with impulse control problems. I wish you wouldn't mix up OCD from other problems.

Submitted by alpastor4528 Thu 02/11/2010

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You are quite right, there is

Submitted by mwilliams on Sun, 02/14/2010 - 5:48am.

You are quite right, there is a big difference between OCD and Impulse Control Disorders. Even if the symptoms can sound similar, the big difference is a person with OCD typically does not act on their obsessions – compulsions may be performed to prevent the obsession from happening. A person with an Impulse Control Disorder does act on their impulse.

That being said recent studies have shown that there is a large comorbidity between Impulse Control Disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, eating disorders and others. So, someone could have OCD and an Impulse Control Disorder or impulse issues that are actually different from the OCD

Impulse Control Disorders fall into six different psychiatric categories: Intermittent Explosive Disorder (out of control anger), Trichotillomania (hair pulling), Kleptomania (stealing), Pyromania (setting fires), Pathological Gambling, and Not Otherwise Specified (i.e. skin picking). Tourette disorder (compulsive tics) is also involves impulse control problems.

Sincerely,
Dr. Williams

—

Monnica T. Williams, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist specializing in OCD
http://www.monnicawilliams.com

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