Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
What is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive, ritualized behaviors you feel compelled to perform.
OCD has three main parts:
-the thoughts that make you anxious (obsessions)
-the anxiety you feel
-the things you do to reduce your anxiety (compulsions).
What exactly are obsessions and compulsions?
Obsessions are thoughts, images or impulses that occur over and over again and feel outside of the persons control. Individuals with OCD do not want to have these thoughts and find them disturbing. In most cases, people with OCD realize that these thoughts dont make any sense. Obsessions are typically accompanied by intense and uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disgust, doubt, or a feeling that things have to be done in a way that is just right.
Compulsions are the repetitive behaviors or thoughts that a person uses with the intention of neutralizing, counteracting, or making their obsessions go away. People with OCD realize this is only a temporary solution but without a better way to cope they rely on the compulsion as a temporary escape. Compulsions can also include avoiding situations that trigger obsessions. Compulsions are time consuming and get in the way of important activities the person values.
What OCD isn't?
A choice- OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder, emphasis on the capital D for Disorder. Research has shown that the brain of a person with OCD actually functions differently, essentially getting stuck on a thought. These thoughts are linked with intense anxiety driving the individual with OCD to engage in compulsive behavior — their only escape.
A quirk- Quirks are likely developed by our own experiences and environment, and can be controlled. According to the International OCD Foundation, unless this behavior is triggered by a fear or anxiety and completed with a series of compulsions that relieve you of these feelings, its not a sign of the disorder which torments peoples mind constantly. It can be paralyzing, too.
A joke- Unfortunately, joking about mental illness is part of the problem. It perpetuates the idea that OCD is something that someone should be able to just get over already. It infers that a person who cant get over it is somehow weak or defective. It makes people hide their illness from friends and family.
An adjective- OCD is not an adjective. It is not an alternative for words like clean or organized. OCD is a noun. Its the name of a mental disorder. OCD is not being particular or a neat freak or an adjective that should ever be used to describe oneself. Every time OCD is used as a simple adjective, it contributes to the stigma. It validates the claim that mental illnesses are just inside the head of a person.
What causes OCD?
Genes: OCD is sometimes inherited, so can occasionally run in the family.
Stress: Stressful life events bring it on in about one out of three cases.
Life changes: Times where someone suddenly has to take on more responsibility – for example, puberty, the birth of a child or a new job.
Brain changes: We don't know for certain, but if you have the symptoms of OCD for more than a short time, researchers think that an imbalance of a chemical called serotonin (also known as 5HT) develops in the brain.
Personality: If you are a neat, meticulous, methodical person with high standards you may be more likely to develop OCD. These qualities are normally helpful, but can slip into OCD if they become too extreme.
Ways of thinking: Nearly all of us have odd or distressing thoughts or pictures in our minds at times. Most of us quickly dismiss these ideas and get on with our lives. But, if you have particularly high standards of morality and responsibility, you may feel that it's terrible to even have these thoughts. So, you are more likely to watch out for them coming back – which makes it more likely that they will.
What keeps OCD going?
Surprisingly, some of the ways in which you help yourself can actually keep it going:
-Trying to push unpleasant thoughts out of your mind - this usually only makes the thoughts return. For example, try not to think of a pink elephant for the next minute – you will probably find it difficult to think of anything else.
-Thinking 'safe' or 'correcting' thoughts. For example, you spend time putting right a disturbing thought with another thought (like counting to ten) or picture (such as seeing a person alive and well).
-Rituals, checking, avoiding and seeking reassurance will all make you less anxious for a short time - especially if you feel that this might prevent something dreadful from happening. But, every time you do them, you strengthen your belief that they stop bad things from happening. And so you feel more pressure to do them.... and so on.
Helping yourself
-Remember - it's not your fault and you are not going 'mad'.
-Expose yourself to your troubling thoughts. This sounds odd, but it's a way of getting more control of them. You record them and listen back to them, or write them down and re-read them.
-You need to do this regularly for around half an hour every day until your anxiety reduces.
-Resist the compulsive behaviour, but not the obsessional thought.
-Don't use alcohol or street drugs to control your anxiety.
-If your thoughts involve worries about your faith or religion, then it can sometimes be helpful to speak to a religious leader to help you work out if this is an OCD problem.
-Contact one of the support groups or websites available.
-Buy a self-help book. (Feel free to check out the one given at the end)
Tips for family and friends
-The behaviour of someone with OCD can be quite frustrating. Try to remember that they are not trying to be difficult or behave oddly, they are coping the best they can.
-Always avoid judging and criticizing the obsessions and compulsions of the OCD sufferer as it is likely to force your loved one to hide their disorder; this makes it much harder to get them the proper treatment.
-It may take a while for someone to accept that they need help. Encourage them to read about OCD and talk it over with a professional.
-Continue to learn and gain a deeper education about OCD to help your loved one effectively.
-You may be able to help exposure treatments by reacting differently to your relative's compulsions:
•encourage them to tackle fearful situations;
•say 'no' to taking part in rituals or checking;
•don't reassure them that things are alright.
-Don't worry that someone with an obsessional fear of being violent will actually do it. This is very rare.
-Ask if you can go with them to see their GP, psychiatrist or other professional.
Other conditions similar to OCD
-Body dysmorphic disorder, or 'the distress of imagined ugliness'. You become convinced that part of your face or body is the wrong shape, and spend hours in front of a mirror checking and trying to cover it up. You may even stop going out in public.
-An urge to pull out your hair or eyebrows (Trichotillomania).
-A fear of suffering from a serious physical illness, such as cancer (Health anxiety or hypochondriasis).
-People with Tourette's syndrome (where a sufferer may shout out suddenly, or jerk uncontrollably) often have OCD as well.
-Children and adults with some forms of autism, like Asperger's syndrome, can appear to have ---OCD because they like things to be the same, and may like to do the same thing over and over again.
Thank you so much for taking your time out to read and hopefully learn something new about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Now that we have a little insight on OCD, let's have a discussion. You are free to answer all or any of these questions. Also, feel free to ask questions of your own!
For those who have OCD:
When and how did you discover that you have OCD?
What part of OCD seems to be the most scariest? What helps you to reduce it?
For those who do not have OCD/have a loved one with OCD:
How can you help someone who has OCD?
What's the most challenging part of living with someone who has OCD?
For everyone:
When do you think is the right time to seek treatment for OCD?
What are some myths/stereotypes that you have heard about OCD? What contributes to increasing the stigma attached with OCD?
Further reading:
Things to remember if you love someone who has OCD
Things not to say to someone with OCD
Special thanks to @Hope and @RaCat for helping me with this project.
(Trigger warning--descriptions of intrusive thoughts that some might find disturbing i.e religious anxiety, health anxiety, and fear of harming children, and one mention of vomiting. Also I apologize in advance if this is really long, I have a lot to say tonight.)
I'm really glad that this is on here right now because it really couldn't have come at a better time for me. I've had a lot of trouble finding people who really understand OCD. I think people just see me doing strange things and assume I'm being weird, or that if I wanted to stop I could, and I don't think people really understand the crippling anxiety that comes with it. And honestly, even on here, listeners don't always know what to do when I come in rambling that the clock is all wrong and I need to get something done but I can't because the clock is wrong. To be frank, I don't know what to do either.
When and how did you discover that you have OCD?
I've really only had it for a year. I started having intense anxiety that I would have a heart attack, to the point that I made my mom take me to the doctor to get me an EKG. Every tiny little ache or pain in my body was going to kill me and I had to constantly spend hours googling symptoms, or texting my sister who takes biomedical classes, or I would sit out in public so that if I dropped over, someone would be there and call 911 and I might survive the imminent attack that was going to kill me. My doctors and I thought it was hypochondria or panic attacks. But eventually the health anxiety faded and was replaced with a crippling fear that I was going to hurt kids I work with. I want to make this clear--I love kids. I adore kids. Kids make me happy and my favorite part of the week is when I get to spend time with the kids I volunteer with. These kids are so special to me, and the thought of me hurting them or having thoughts about hurting them made me physically ill. But have you ever had that feeling when your standing at the top of a tall place and there's a tiny voice in the back of your brain screaming "Jump!" and your not going to jump, you don't actually want to jump but the thought is there. It was like that. I was sitting next to my kids and realizing horrible things I could do. Horrible things I could think. Most people can dismiss those thoughts. When you have OCD though, you can't. You think "Oh no I'm a monster," and then spend all your time monitering your thoughts, trying to get rid of them. Every time I'd see a kid I'd check my thoughts to see if the thoughts were there and--guess what--checking the thoughts almost always guarentees the thought is going to be there.
Eventually I started having intrusive thoughts about going to hell, and offending God, and things of that nature. Which didn't make sense to me because I come from a very secular family, I've never been to church except when a friend took me. I kinda never had a set beleif system. I beleived in God but not like...the same way other people did, and the closest word that came to what I was was "agnostic." But suddenly I started having intrusive thoughts about selling my soul. And I was convinced I was doomed and I'd picture burning for eternity, and the thougth was so all consuming that I wanted to stick my hand in the fire just to see what it would feel like to burn for eternity. That's when I knew something was wrong. I was like,"Okay this is the third time now I've had an episode like this." I kinda began doing research and digging to try and figure out what was going on, and OCD just kept popping up and it made so much more sense than panic attacks or hypochondria did. I did some research, looked up the DSM IV criteria and it all fits, I'm relatively confident this is what I have, and I've brought it up to my psychiatrist (who I see a few times a year for other things) but we haven't talked extensively, and I'm not receiving any help at the moment. But I plan to maybe adress it the next time I see him.
What part of OCD seems to be the scariest? What helps to reduce it?
Definatley the intrusive thoughts. The crippling fear that I will hurt someone because of some tiny little thing I do. My compulsions all stem from the obsessions. My obsession that I *have* to be a good person. That my thoughts are so bad and awful I have to make up for them. That if I do anything wrong I will be punished and someone will be hurt. So I can't lie. I have to take careful considerations to make sure what I say is true. If I'm not sure if I paid for something, I have to go into the store and pretend to buy it again. In places where it's not clear what to do, I started making up rules, and those rules stuck.. Red is good. Green is bad. In fact, I have such an intricate system of good and bad numbers now that I have to count everyrthing and I spend so much time counting or laying on the floor because the time on the clock is "wrong." And as horrible as these compulsions are, the obsessions they stem from are even worse. And it's terrifying because they really make you question whether or not you are a good person, and for me personally, my kindness is one of the most important things to me. It was something I really valued about myself. I am a kind person, I am a good person. I prized that above all else and then to suddenly have thoughts that I might hurt someone or that I might not be good terrified me.
Honestly I don't have a lot of coping mechanisms yet, I've only had this for a year. Sometimes I try to distract myself. A lot of times I will curl up with a blanket I have that has a dragonfly on it--which is a personal symbol of strength for me because it's tied to a friend and mentor of mine who passed. I had a friend in school who would let me come over to her dorm and pet her lizard that she snuck into her dorm when I was worked up this year. That was nice.
When do you think is the right time to seek treatment for OCD?
Well, I'd say it's always the right time. If you are in pain, you deserve help. Period. You don't need to sit and wait for some magical "right time" to come. When you are hurting, you deserve help.
What are some myths/stereotypes you have hard about OCD? What contributes to increasing the stigma attatched to OCD?
Well, that it's about neatness, or pickiness, or orderliness. I have a developmental disability that causes executive dysfunction. I've struggled with organization my entire life. I am a mess. My OCD does not make me cleaner. None of my symptoms revolve around that at all. Although I did go through a while where I had to count how many times I washed my hands, but that was the only thing really. For me the biggest thing is that people don't know about the really scary thoughts that come with OCD. The ones that aren't always appropriate, the ones that make you disgusted with your own brain, the ones that make you feel crazy. My ocd doesn't make me neat and tidy. It makes me picture myself doing horrible things to kids that I love and adore and would never ever hurt. It makes me imagine myself burning in hell to the point where I want to jump in a fire just to get it over with. These are thoughts that are graphic, disturbing, and terrifying. And when you describe them to people you feel crazy. Even people who love you don't know how to handle these thoughts. My compulsions are *weird* I sit on the floor every day at 6:00 for an hour. I back track and do things again and again. If I think something I ate might be contaminated because of a bad word on the container, I will (trigger warning) phyisicaly make myself get rid of it, over and over again until i've done it the right number of times or there's nothing left in my stoumach. And the reason I've described this here is not for attention, but because I want people to understand that this is what OCD and intrusive thoughts can be like. It's ugly. It's weird. It's so isolating because no one understands. People in my life are either too overwhelmed with these problems to deal with, or the problems are so strange they think I'm making it up. All you see is the compulsions. The counting, the back tracking, the laying on the floor. I see the obsessions. I see the crippling fear. It's not something small that you can get over and it isn't something that's "quirky." It's a very real thing to me. And I know some of these thoughts and fears are irrational, but that doesn't make them go away.
@compassion4you14
This was great information and of course I would like to read exactly what the DSM-5 says on it but it's unfortunate that most people don't talk about excessive compulsive personality disorder because that is something that many people struggle with and there's not much information or awareness about that
@Meooow I'm glad that you found it informative. Thank you so much for reading through it. It is indeed unfortunate that most people don't talk about ocpd and that there's not much information or awareness about it. As far as I know, both OCD and OCPD are quite similar yet quite different from each other and it's sometimes difficult to get a proper diagnosis. I would encourage you to check out this resource.
@compassion4you14. I read it. Pretty informative. I still want to look up the actual DSM-5 diagnosis. Out of six of the symptoms that they said I have three of them in that article. It's very tricky for anyone even for professionals to determine stuff because a lot of stuff could be normal so to speak.
For those who have OCD: I don't think i have OCD, well maybe a little like in a shop i always get in dilemma for picking like for example: a bag of crisp. Because i don't know which one to pick that would be 'perfectly' unharmed and stuff.. i dont even know how to explain that xD well shortly i always pick the things in a shop those which are more.. hidden in the back so they wouldnt be touched by other ppl? And have really strange feeling about locking the doors. I mean i always lock 3 times and check if it's locked 3 times. (idek why) and if i still feel or forgot that i locked it, i go back again and check if the door is really locked. And some other things that happen to me but forgot to mention it now. Well but i know someone who have it, my sister and i asked her if she could answer.
When and how did you discover that you have OCD? "In 4th grade. I didn't really knew that it's OCD but had some kinda clue that something it's bothering me."
What part of OCD seems to be the most scariest? What helps you to reduce it? "the scariest part of it is that i always feel dirty. Actions helps me reduce it.. like washing myself?"
For those who do not have OCD/have a loved one with OCD:
How can you help someone who has OCD? I'm not so good with helping her with it, but i try to calm her i guess. I try also doing everything that could help her.. like putting extra clothes in the bag wherever we go, and similar kinda stuff.
What's the most challenging part of living with someone who has OCD? Well it's challenging.. maybe other didn't experienced what i did but it can get so exhausting. Tho i got used on it already.
For everyone:
When do you think is the right time to seek treatment for OCD? Whe it's just unbearable for a person with OCD and others around.
What are some myths/stereotypes that you have heard about OCD? What contributes to increasing the stigma attached with OCD? well i don't know about it.. haven't heard any..i think..
@compassion4you14
Thank you for all this information! I've never been really diagnosed with OCD before. But I do think I have it. I got totally stressed out at work yesterday because as I was making new changes on the knitting hooks (I work at Walmart), the fixtures didn't fit the product and the color didn't match. I was almost in tears trying to figure out how to make it work. I paged my supervisor but she did not respond nor did she come over like I asked her too, until like 15 minutes later! I was in a bad mood for the remaining of the last 45 minutes of my shift and during lunch with my dad after work.
I also need to have everything aligned when I work and put things on shelves. Especially picky on having the English facing out, rather than the French. But it's funny how I'm more OCD when it comes to work, than when I'm at home. My work desk is messy, everything seems disorganized. But when it comes to work, merchandising shelves, cleaning up after myself after eating in the lunch room, pushing my chair in, getting everything I need to work, that's when the OCD kicks in!~
Thanks for taking the time to write this article. Very informative~ :)
When and how did you discover that you have OCD?
I believe I've had OCD since I was a pre-teen. However, it has never been properly diagnosed until sometime last year when a school counselor believed I might benefit from seeing an actual psychiatrist to help with intrusive thoughts and obsessions.
What part of OCD seems to be the most scariest? What helps you to reduce it?
The scariest part of my OCD is the fear that if I think a certain thing, mostly a word, that I don't think is the right word to think, or if it's some very gruesome terrible thought....I believe something bad will happen soon. It's this slight feeling of doom that overcomes me if I don't do a compulsion almost right away.
It's also very irritating, becuase sometimes I end up mumbling to myself trying to change the terrible thought I'm thinking. I would repeat the 'good' words to myself over and over and sometimes I feel like I have to do it so often that my mouth sometimes aches from mumbling so much!
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to seek a lot of good treatment since I'm too poor to afford a good therapist. The anxiety/antidepressants that I'm currently taking for general anxiety and depression don't help at all with OCD despite it being an anxiety disorder. So I've just been dealing with it myself this whole time. It's not so bad, though. I mean it usually doesn't strongly affect my day to day life. Although sometimes it does slow me down a bit when I have to repeat actions while I'm on my way somewhere, such as going through thresholds twice, or feeling the urge to pass my hand across a wall without someone noticing (which my grandfather actually has at one point). Honestly, it can get kind of exhausting.
Curiosity question. Does anybody have it where they can't have their stuff touched. To the point where it's pretty extreme
@Meooow my aunt told me she thinks I have it because I place things in a position in which I won't forget it because I tend to misplace it and if someone moves it without telling me I get pretty upset and freak out and become pretty anxious when people move thIngs when I've had it exactly where I wanted it.
There's a lot of times that people have asked me am I OCD but I've never been diagnosed with it or assumed that I am. I like to think that I'm just a neat freak and a perfectionist.
but reading your question I've noticed this in myself.
Well it's more than just getting angry. But I just stay with my parents so they understand and so since I don't really have anyone come over it doesn't really affect my life that much but of course when I try to explain to people they don't really understand
@Meooow where in my statement did I state that I get angry ? Or are you talking about yourself?
I'm a bit confused by your comment is all.
@astray yeah read what you wrote you said that you do get angry and then I was saying that I guess I do a little bit but I wouldn't use the word angry I guess I would say like frustrated but you see I don't even allow anyone to get to the point where they're close enough to touch anything of mine
@Meooow I never mentioned the word angry i have become upset or freaked out with anxiety and well I'm not OCD just was stating what my family and others think and have asked me.
@Meooow I'm sure others are worse, but in certain places my items have to be where I put them and I can tell right away if someone has even bumped them. If I see someone touch something I have to go behind them to touch it or move it. For example, came into my work one day and the boss had had someone come in to clean the offices over the weekend, when normally we do our own cleaning. I was an absolute mess, EVERYTHING was wrong and askew and I couldn't seem to get things right fast enough. I broke down, I got angry, I panicked, I got sad, I couldn't work. Took me three days to recover from that frozen haze to even be able to work, almost 2 weeks to get the office back to where it was.
@CaptainHowdy interesting. But yeah I think I have it worse