ADD/ADD & Obsessive Compulsive Disorders March 13, 2008

The MANHATTAN ADULT ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER SUPPORT GROUP
(http://www.maaddsg.org)
when: Thursday / March 13, 2008 / 6:30pm to 9pm
what: 6:30 -- doors open
6:50 -- announcements
7:00 -- presentation and group discussion:
ADD & OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDERS
(we request a $5.00 Doantion)
who: Stephen Josephson, PhD, clinical psychologist;
associate professor, Department of Psychiatry,
Weill-Cornell Medical College
why: Does ADD include obsessive thinking? The
question -- put to a 2005 presenter -- drew
the following response:
Officially? There's nothing in the definition
of ADD -- formally AD/HD: Attention-deficit/
Hyperactivity Disorder -- to that effect. But,
unofficially, it's not hard to find an ADDer
whose thinking, at times, can be inflexible.
This week, we'll revisit the issue, and look
at the sometime co-occurrence of ADD and two
syndromes:
-- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
[www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-disorders/
obsessive-compulsive-disorder.shtml]
OCD is marked by intrusive -- and repetitive --
notions or images; and by rituals -- repeated
checking, counting, or washing -- that ease a
related fear or discomfort. Temporarily, that is.
-- Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
[www.minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Obsessive-compulsive-personality-disorder.html]
Often lumped with its better-known namesake,
OCPD can feature unrealistic standards; an
inability to delegate; a craving for completeness
for its own sake; or an exaggerated sense of
obligation.
On the surface, ADD is oddly paired with either
OC diagnosis.* ADD doings -- by reputation, at
least -- are spontaneous; while OC moves are
anything but. Indeed, a checking compulsion
can look like an ADD coping skill run amok.
And perfectionism -- if it doesn't paralyze --
can counter an ADD tendency toward haste
or omission.
To complicate matters, ADD medications have
been known to worsen OCD (though they can
also relieve it). Still, despite the above, ADD
and OCD have been known to coexist.**
Finally, there's the gamut which runs from
cluttering to hoarding, both of which eat living
space.*** Are these spinoffs of ADD? Subtypes
of OCD? Expressions of OCPD? Or are they
disorders unto themselves?
On Thursday, getting us started on this, will be
psychologist Stephen Josephson
[www.behavioral-med.com/html/about_us.html]
whose recent ADD+OCPD case report
[www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=1074]
is the first of its kind.
A specialist in stress managment, Dr. Josephson
has run an inpatient OCD unit at Cornell; managed
a sleep-disorders lab at Rutgers; advised a stroke-
prevention clinic at Beth Israel; and led a hypertension
program at the International Center for the Disabled.
He's also served on the medical faculties of Columbia
and Cornell.
Dr. Josephson now heads an East Side group practice
[www.behavioral-med.com]
which offers a range of interventions. This
will be his second appearance before the Support
Group.
URLs are available on request.
* OCD, OCPD, and a number of quasi-addictions --
excess gambling, shopping, Internet use -- have
been categorized, by some, as "obsessive-compulsive
spectrum disorders."
** Now and then, a "comorbidity" can reflect a
larger disturbance.
*** The first is passive, as in: I'm slow with my
paperwork, so it piles up -- and up -- and up. The
second is active, as in: to upgrade my "collection,"
I'm off to the flea market.
where: Seafarers & International House second-floor space
123 East 15th Street
(northeast corner, 15th and Irving Place)

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of webjunkie.