Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental illness that causes repeated unwanted thoughts or sensations (obsessions) or the urge to do something over and over again (compulsions). Some people can have both obsessions and compulsions.

As a condition, OCD is not about propensities like gnawing your nails or thinking negative musings. An obsessive thought might be that specific numbers or colors are “good” or “bad” A compulsive habit may be to wash your hands multiple times after contacting something that could be grimy. Even though it may not be your tendency to think or do these things, you feel frail to stop.

Everybody has habits or musings that they rehash now and again. Individuals with OCD have thoughts or actions that:

Take up at least an hour a day
Are outside your ability to control
Not agreeable
Interfere with work, your social life, or another part of life

OCD Types

OCD comes in many forms, but most cases fall into at least one of four general categories:

Checking: for example, locks, alarm systems, ovens, or light switches, or thinking you have an ailment like pregnancy or schizophrenia.
Contamination: fear of things that might be dirty or a compulsion to clean. Mental contamination involves feeling like you are a speck of dirt.
Symmetry: the need to have things lined up in a certain way.
Ruminations and intrusive thoughts: An obsession with a thought. Some of these thoughts might be rough or upsetting.

Symptoms of OCD

With OCD, you have thoughts or compulsions that upset you and cause trouble. You may attempt to overlook them or push them out of your mind, but this is generally difficult or impossible. Even if you do stop thinking about them for some time, they usually hold returning.

If you live with OCD, you may have a range of different symptoms. Your symptoms might come mainly from one group or more than one group.

Cleaning and Contamination

This type of symptom may include:

Persistent worry about germs or illness
Thoughts about feeling dirty or unclean (physically or mentally)
Steady apprehensions about exposure to blood, toxic substances, viruses, infections, and different wellsprings of pollution
Avoidance of possible wellsprings of pollution
Compulsions to get rid of items you consider dirty (even if they aren’t dirty)
Compulsions to wash or clean defiled things
Specific cleaning or washing rituals, such as washing your hands or scouring a surface a particular number of times

Symmetry And Ordering

These symptoms may include:

A need for things or belongings should align in a certain way.
An extreme need for symmetry or organization in things
A requirement for balance in activities (on the off chance that you
Scratch your left knee (you likewise should scratch your correct knee)
A compulsion to arrange your belongings or other things until they feel “just right”
Feeling incomplete when things are not in order.
Counting rituals, such as needing to count to a specific number a certain number of times
Magical thinking or thinking something terrible will occur on the off chance when you cannot mastermind or arrange things properly.
Organization rituals or specific ways of aligning objects

Hoarding

Symptoms of this category often include:

Steady worry that discarding something could carry mischief to you or another person.
A need to collect a specific number of things to shield yourself or another person from hurt
Extreme fear of throwing away an essential thing unintentionally (for example, mail with touchy or required data)
An impulse to purchase products of a similar kind, in any event, when you don’t need that many
Trouble discarding things because touching them could cause contamination.
Feeling incomplete if you can’t find a possession or accidentally lost or threw it away
A compulsion to check or review your possessions

Hoarding in the context of OCD differs from hoarding disorder, a separate mental health condition. The main difference between the two is the distress involved with hoarding-related OCD.

If you have OCD, you don’t want all of the things you collect, but you might feel compelled to save them because of obsessive or compulsive thoughts.

Another subtype of OCD involves behavioral tics, such as:

Shrugging
Throat-clearing
Blinking
Twitching

These tics may help relieve the unwanted obsessions and feelings of distress or incompleteness that occur with OCD. Adults and children both can have tic-related OCD. It’s often a more common trusted source when OCD begins in childhood.

Forbidden Thoughts

Symptoms may involve:

Frequent intrusive thoughts that are often sexual or violent in nature
Guilt, shame, and different pain about your thoughts
Persistent questioning of your sexual orientation, desires, or sexual interests
Persistent worry that you’ll act on your nosy thoughts or that having them makes you an awful person
Frequent worry that you’ll hurt yourself or another person without meaning to
Fixations on strict thoughts that vibe godless or wrong
Persistent feelings of responsibility for causing awful things to happen
Impulses to conceal things you could use as a weapon
Looking for consolation that you won’t follow up on nosy musings
Looking for consolation that you’re not an awful individual
Mental rituals to dispel or cancel out your thoughts
Frequently review your daily activities to make sure you haven’t hurt anyone, whether mentally or physically retracing your steps

When to See a Doctor

There’s a difference between being a perfectionist — someone who requires flawless results or performance, for example — and having OCD. OCD thoughts aren’t simply excessive worries about real problems in your life or like to have things clean or arranged in a specific way.

If your obsessions and compulsions negatively impact your quality of life, see a mental health professional at Kazmo Brain Center.

Causes of OCD

The exact cause of OCD is unknown, but researchers believe that certain parts of the brain may not respond well to serotonin, a chemical that some nerve cells use to communicate with each other.

Genetics appears to contribute to OCD, as well, if you, your parent, or a sibling have OCD, there’s about a 25% chance that another immediate family member will have it.

Some studies reported an association between childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. More research is needed to understand the causes of OCD.

OCD Risk Factors

While there is debate about the causes of obsessive-compulsive disorder, risk factors include:

A parent, sibling, or child with OCD
Physical differences in certain parts of your brain
Depression, anxiety, or tics
Experience with trauma
A history of physical or sexual abuse as a child
Sometimes, a child might have OCD after a streptococcal infection. It is called pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections, or PANDAS.

Complications

Issues coming from obsessive-compulsive disorder may include, among others:

Excessive time spent engaging in ritualistic behaviors
Medical problems, for example, contact dermatitis from continuous hand-washing
Trouble going to work, school, or social exercises
Troubled relationships
Generally, the low quality of life
Suicidal thoughts and behavior

How is OCD Treated?

Psychological well-being specialists at Kazmo Brain Center can help you with psychotherapy and medication management, or a mix of the two, to have the most advantage in the treatment of OCD.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). It is commonly the suggested approach. This type of treatment gradually exposes you to subjects of your obsessions or things that cause compulsions.

In the safe space of therapy, you can learn how to manage the distress you experience without acting out compulsions. You’ll probably also spend some time practicing these skills at home or in different conditions outside of treatment.

If you have severe OCD symptoms, or if your symptoms don’t seem to respond to therapy alone, your mental healthcare provider may recommend talking to a psychiatrist about medication.

In one 2008 review, researchers found ERP therapy may not be as effective for obsessive thoughts. Different CBT approaches, such as mindfulness-based CBT, may have more benefits.

However, research results can vary. Two people won’t always respond to treatment in the same way, even if they have very similar symptoms.

Deep brain stimulation is a new type of treatment that may help improve symptoms of OCD in people who don’t see improvement with other treatments.

Tips for Living With OCD

Even when things are going well, OCD can hijack your day. Obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors and the anxiety that comes with them can take up massive amounts of time and energy.

Though medication and therapy are the main ways to treat this lifelong condition, self-care is a secret weapon with plenty of side benefits.

Food and mood. The only thing more important than eating healthy food is eating it regularly. When you’re hungry, your blood sugar drops. It can make you cranky or tired. Start with daily breakfast. Try to eat small meals more often instead of big meals at lunch and dinner.

Go for:

Nuts and seeds, full of healthy nutrients
Protein like eggs, beans, and meat, which fuel you up slowly to keep you in better balance
Complex carbs like fruits, veggies, and whole grains, which help keep your blood sugar levels steady

Steer clear of caffeine, the stimulant in tea, coffee, soda, and energy drinks. It can kick up your anxiety levels a few notches.

Stick to your prescriptions. It can be tempting to escape OCD with drugs or alcohol, but they’re triggers in disguise. Drinking alcohol might feel like it offsets your anxiety, but it creates more before leaving your system. The same goes for nicotine, the stimulant in cigarettes.

Sleep on it. Anxiety can make it hard to sleep. But sleep is important for good mental health. Instead of expecting to lie down and drift off to dreamland, create a sleep routine that sets your body up for success. Swap the time you spend looking at screens for 10 minutes of relaxing music or a warm bath. Dim the noise and lighting and adjust the temperature in your bedroom to help you go to sleep, and stay asleep all night.

Get active. When you feel anxious, your body releases a hormone called cortisol. It’s helpful in small doses but harmful at high levels. Regular exercise keeps your cortisol levels in check and benefits everything from your bones and organs to the numbers on your scale.

Take your meds. It may be common sense, but it’s vital to take the correct dose at the right time. If you forget to take it or decide to skip a dose, it could set off your symptoms. Talk to your doctor if side effects are an issue or before taking anything new, including over-the-counter medicine and vitamins.

Seek support. Don’t hold it all in. Help is as close as your phone or computer. Sometimes the simple act of saying out loud what you’re thinking can lower anxiety and give you some perspective. In addition to your doctor, find a therapist, OCD coach, or support group to connect you with people who understand.

Learn to relax. Your body can’t relax if it doesn’t know how! Relaxation techniques like yoga, meditation, taking a walk in nature, or drawing a picture teach your body how it feels to be calm. Try a few to find what works best for you, and spend 30 minutes a day on it.

Celebrate victories. Learning how to live with OCD takes time. Like any other goal, you’ll have successes and setbacks. Yes, it’s important to work on your OCD, but it’s just as important to step back and cheer the big and small progress you make along the way.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic and long-term disorder that needs help from a mental health counselor, so do not be shy and schedule an appointment with Kazmo Brain Center to help you get rid of this obsession.

Kazmo Brain Center is a counseling center located in Frisco, Texas specializing in Obsessive-compulsive disorder, and will work with you toward a happier and more satisfying life. If you are facing problems and you think that you need aid in fixing them, Kazmo Brain Center can do excellent help.

resources:

nimh.nih.gov

healthline.com