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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/symptoms-of-ocd/
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder. It has two main parts: obsessions and compulsions.
Obsessions are unwelcome thoughts, images, urges, worries or doubts that repeatedly appear in your mind. They can make you feel very anxious (although some people describe it as 'mental discomfort' rather than anxiety). You can read more about obsessions
here.
Compulsions are repetitive activities that you do to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession. It could be something like repeatedly checking a door is locked, repeating a specific phrase in your head or checking how your body feels. You can read more
about compulsions here.
It's not about being tidy, it's about having no control over your negative thoughts. It's about being afraid not doing things a certain way will cause harm.
You might find that sometimes your obsessions and compulsions are manageable and other times they are impossible to live with. They may be more severe when you are stressed about other things like work, university or relationships.
If you experience OCD during pregnancy or after birth, you might get diagnosed with postnatal or antenatal OCD. You can find out more about this diagnosis on the Royal College of Psychiatrists website.
What's it like to live with OCD?
Although many people experience minor obsessions (such as worrying about *leaving the gas on, or if the door is locked*) and compulsions (such as avoiding the cracks in the pavement), these don’t significantly interfere with daily life, or are short-
lived.
If you experience OCD, it's likely that your obsessions and compulsions will have a big impact on how you live your life:
Disruption to your day-to-day life. Repeating compulsions can take up a lot of time, and you might avoid certain situations that trigger your OCD. This can mean that you're not able to go to work, see family and friends, eat out or even go outside.
Obsessive thoughts can make it hard to concentrate and can leave you feeling exhausted.
Impact on your relationships. You may feel that you have to hide your OCD from people close to you – or your doubts and anxieties about the relationship may
make it too difficult to continue it.
Feeling ashamed or lonely. You may feel ashamed of your obsessive thoughts, or as if they are a permanent part of you and can't be treated. You might feel that you can't talk about this part of yourself with others. This can make you feel very isolated.
If you find it hard to be around people or go outside then you may feel lonely.
Impact on your physical health. Anxiety caused by obsessions can affect your physical health. You can read more about physical symptoms in our pages on anxiety.
I knew it was irrational...but tapping certain objects would ease the effect of
the terrible intrusive thoughts. It would be time consuming but at least then I
could feel like I wasn't a bad person.
Living with OCD
There are some other mental health problems that are similar to OCD because they involve repetitive thoughts, behaviours or urges. They are sometimes called habit disorders.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is an anxiety disorder related to body image. Compulsive skin picking (CSP) is the repetitive picking at your skin to relieve
anxiety or urges. It can be experienced as part of body dysmorphic disorder.
Trichotillomania is a compulsive urge to pull out your hair.
Some people with OCD have difficulties with hoarding.
**Obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is sometimes confused with OCD - but they are not the same thing. OCPD is a type of personality disorder, while OCD is an anxiety disorder.**
Co-morbidity (having more than one diagnosis at the same time) with OCD is common, but it can sometimes make OCD difficult to diagnose and treat. For example, if you experience OCD you might be living with other mental health problems as well, such as
anxiety or depression.
One of the most difficult things about OCD is how people perceive it. Intrusive
thoughts and compulsions take a greater toll, yet people don't seem to understand that.
Experiences of facing stigma
Lots of people have misconceptions about OCD. Some people think it just means you wash your hands a lot or you like things to be tidy. They might even make jokes about it.
This can be frustrating and upsetting, especially if people who think this are friends or family, colleagues or even healthcare professionals.
Stigma can make OCD feel difficult to talk about but it's important to remember
you are not alone. Here are some options for you to think about:
Get more involved in your treatment. Our pages on seeking help for a mental health problem provide guidance on having your say in your treatment, making your voice heard, and steps you can take if you're not happy with your care.
Talk about your experience. Sharing your story can help improve people's understanding and change their attitudes.
What are the symptoms of OCD?
This page covers:
Obsessions
Compulsions
What is 'Pure O'?
Obsessions
Obsessions are persistent thoughts, pictures, urges or doubts that appear in your mind again and again. They interrupt your thoughts against your control and can be really frightening, graphic and disturbing. They may make you feel anxious, disgusted or '
mentally uncomfortable'.
You might feel you can't share them with others or that there is something wrong with you that you have to hide. You do not choose to have obsessions - but you might feel upset that you are capable of having such thoughts.
Remember: obsessions are not a reflection of your personality. People with OCD are very unlikely to act on their thoughts because they find them so distressing and repugnant. There are no recorded cases of a person with OCD carrying out their obsession.
I get unwanted thoughts all through the day, which is very distressing and affects my ability to interact with others and concentrate on my studies.
Type of obsession Examples include
Fear of causing or failing to prevent harm
worrying you've already harmed someone by not being careful enough. For example, that you have knocked someone over in your car.
worrying you're going to harm someone because you will lose control. For example, that you will push someone in front of a train or stab them.
Intrusive thoughts, images and impulse
Violent intrusive thoughts or images of yourself doing something violent or abusive. These thoughts might make you worry that you are a dangerous person.
Religious or blasphemous thoughts that are against your religious beliefs. Relationship intrusive thoughts often appear as doubts about whether a relationship is right or whether you or your partner's feelings are strong enough. They might lead you to end your relationship to get rid of the doubt and anxiety.
Sexual intrusive thoughts or images. These could be related to children, family
members or to sexually aggressive behaviour. You might worry that you could be a paedophile or a rapist, or that you are sexually attracted someone in your family.
Fear of contamination
Contamination (for example by dirt, germs or faeces). You might worry that you have been contaminated and that you - or other people - are spreading the contamination. You might worry that you have or might get a disease.
Mental contamination. You might experience uncomfortable feelings of 'internal uncleanliness'.
Fears and worries related to order or symmetry
You might have a fear that something bad will happen if everything isn't 'right' - for example if things are not clean, in order or symmetrical.
You might experience more than one type of obsession. They are often linked together. For example you might experience a fear of contamination and a fear of doing someone harm by accidentally making them ill.
Anxiety and arousal
Intrusive sexual thoughts may lead you to constantly monitor and check your genitals. This attention and the anxiety you are feeling may actually increase blood flow and physical arousal. This can make you feel as if you are aroused by the intrusive
thoughts when in fact the opposite is true. Many people with this type of OCD call this 'groinal response'.
Compulsions
Compulsions are repetitive activities that you feel you have to do. The aim of a compulsion is to try and deal with the distress caused by obsessive thoughts.
You might have to continue doing the compulsion until the anxiety goes away and
things feel right again. You might know that it doesn't make sense to carry out
a compulsion - but it can still feel too scary not to.
Repeating compulsions is often very time consuming and the relief they give you
doesn't usually last very long.
Compulsions can:
be physical actions
be mental rituals (people who only have mental compulsions sometimes refer to their OCD as Pure O)
involve a number (for example, you might feel you have to complete a compulsion
a specific number of times without interruption).
Type of compulsion Examples include
Rituals
washing your hands, body or things around you a lot
touching things in a particular order or at a certain time
arranging objects in a particular way
Checking
checking doors and windows to make sure they are locked
checking your body or clothes for contamination
checking your body to see how it responds to intrusive thoughts
checking your memory to make sure an intrusive thought didn't actually happen
checking your route to work to make sure you didn't cause an accident
Correcting thoughts
repeating a word, name or phrase in your head or out loud
counting to a certain number
replacing an intrusive thought with a different image
Reassurance
repeatedly asking other people to tell you that everything is alright
Avoidance
You might find that some activities, objects or experiences make your obsessions or compulsions worse. For example if you are worried that you might stab someone then you might avoid the kitchen because you know there are knives
there.
Sometimes it might feel easier to avoid situations that mean you have to do a compulsion. For example if you have to do a long and time consuming ritual every time you leave the house, you might just decide it's easier to stay indoors. But avoiding
things can have a major impact on your life.
Getting ready involves so much hand washing and so many mental rituals. Sometimes, I feel like staying in bed and avoiding the day.
What is 'Pure O'?
Pure O stands for 'purely obsessional'. People sometimes use this phrase to describe a type of OCD where they experience distressing intrusive thoughts but
there are no external signs of compulsions (for example checking or washing). The name is slightly
misleading as it suggests that there are no compulsions at all.
If you have Pure O you will still experience mental compulsions - but you might
not be aware of them. Because they are not as obvious as physical compulsions it can sometimes be difficult to define exactly what these compulsions are.
Here are some examples of internal compulsions:
checking how you feel (for example, you might check to see if you are still in love with your partner)
checking bodily sensations (for example, you might check to see if you were aroused by an intrusive thought)
check how you feel about a thought (for example, you might check whether you are still 'appropriately disgusted' by the thought)
repeating phrases or numbers in your head
checking if you still have a thought (for example, first thing in the morning)
***
### - ocd in itself isn't necessarily nuts, but it could potentially 'drive' someone nuts due to an increasing aberation of normal behaviour by dint of having to increasingly include often increasingly bizzare workarounds in a kind
of spiraling viscious
circle that can easily end in disaster/suicide!
:)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)