Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterized by the presence of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive and distressing thoughts, images, or urges that repeatedly enter an individual’s mind. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed in response to obsessions. These thoughts and fears are often involuntarily and unintentionally interfering with your daily activities and causing significant distress.
Trying to ignore these thoughts can lead to heightened anxiety as you feel driven to commit compulsive tasks in order to ease your stress. These urges repeatedly come back and overall shape the ritualistic cycle of OCD. Although obsession as well as compulsion can come in several different types,
Obsession vs. compulsion
Obsession Types
There are different themes of obsession, but a common one includes the excessive fear of being contaminated by germs. In order to settle this urge, diagnosed people often compulsively wash their hands to the point of soreness.
The symptoms regarding other themes of obsession include:
Fear of being contaminated by touching objects others have touched
Repeated doubts that you’ve locked the door or turned off the stove
Intense stress when objects aren’t orderly or facing a certain way
Images of driving your car into a crowd of people
Thoughts about shouting obscenities or acting inappropriately in public
Unpleasant sexual images
Avoidance of situations that can trigger obsessions, such as shaking hands
Compulsion Types
Compulsion, on the other hand, refers to the repetitive tasks that you feel urged to commit without an explicit reason other than responding to previously said obsessive thoughts. To some people, compulsive mental acts are the treatment for their anxiety. However, engaging in the compulsion acts merely offers a temporary break from the stress and generally brings no added pleasure.
The symptoms regarding compulsion types include:
Hand-washing until your skin becomes raw
Checking doors repeatedly to make sure they’re locked
Checking the stove repeatedly to make sure it’s off
Counting in certain patterns
Silently repeating a prayer, word, or phrase
Arranging your canned goods to face the same way
Before you start to self-diagnose, OCD isn’t simply excessive worries about real problems in your life or like things to be clean and in a certain way. For OCD to be diagnosed, there must exist a presence of intrusive, irrational, and distressing thoughts that, in one way or another, lead to repetitive behaviors and mental acts as a way to reduce anxiety.
Causes and Risk Factors:
Regarding this serious condition, which often develops from the environment, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause; however, the main theories include:
Biological factors. OCD may be a result of changes in your body’s own natural chemistry or brain functions.
Genetic factors. OCD may have a genetic component, caused by hereditary factors such as chemical, structural, and abnormalities in the brain.
Environmental factors. Obsessive fears and compulsive behaviors can be learned from watching family members or gradually learned over time.
Factors that further increase the risk are stressful life events, as research suggests that living through traumatic events like natural disasters, sexual abuse, neglect, and more can act as a contributing factor to this condition. However, OCD doesn’t have to limit someone’s potential. Many people successfully manage their lives with this condition, living a normal, happy life.
Treatments:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), particularly exposure and response prevention (ERP), This is considered the gold standard treatment, as ERP involves the principle of gradual and systematic exposure to feared situations without engaging in compulsions.
Medication, primarily selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), can help reduce OCD symptoms.
Loved ones: although this isn’t an official treatment, they can help you through the process of treatment by de-stressing. Elevated stress levels can make the treatment more difficult to endure.
