Anxiety & Sleep Wake Disorders
Answer the questions below based on the following case study.
A 26-year-old woman presented to the clinic after her cleaning rituals had so exhausted her that she had given up and could now enter only two of the five rooms in her home. For more than a year she has worried that if her house is not sufficiently clean, her 3-year-old son will become ill and could die. Having touched a surface she has to disinfect it repeatedly – a procedure performed in a particular way and taking several hours. In addition, she repetitively washes her hands and sterilizes all the crockery and cutlery before eating. She realizes that she is ‘going over the top’, but she cannot stop thinking that items may have germs on them. This leads to disabling anxiety and fear for her son’s health, which she can only resolve by cleaning. This helps temporarily, but soon the thoughts return again.