As my website states I have been diagnosed with several issues. However, the foundational issue I deal with is called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). To me, OCD is a fascinating disorder for many reasons. First, it’s very often misportrayed in the media as a fun or quirky disorder, and many people will say things like “well my ocd makes me very organized”. This can’t be further from the truth. The World Health Organization has deemed OCD one of the most debilitating mental health disorders in the world.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Explained
OCD is a mental health disorder where people will get unwanted thoughts, images, urges or feelings stuck in their head. This is called an obsession. These thoughts will cause an enormous amount of mental anguish so the sufferer will perform some kind of act, whether physical or mental, to make these thoughts and feelings go away. This is called a compulsion. The compulsion will bring momentary relief to the sufferer, but it is always in vain. The obsession will come back, the anxiety will increase, and the cycle will keep going.
What makes this disorder complicated is the compulsion that the person does will bring momentary relief. So the person feels like what they are doing is helping. However, the compulsion is just reinforcing the obsession, so the feeling keeps coming back.
Another thing that makes OCD difficult is that the obsessions are normally associated with things that attach to people’s values. So loving parents will often get obsessions about their kids. Or religious people will get obsessed with their faith.
It must quickly be pointed out that everyone gets intrusive and unwanted thoughts, and random odd urges or feelings. However, what turns these issues into obsessions and full-blown OCD is when they get stuck and cause intense mental torture.
OCD Cycle Example
A mother just gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. One day, she gets a weird thought in her head,… “What if I throw this baby down on the floor?” That thought quickly goes away and she goes about her day. Then one day it comes back! She then starts to spiral. “What if I want to hurt my baby? What if I do it?” This becomes her obsession.
Like a good mother, she will then start to do something, whether physical or mental, to make the thought go away. She may pray over and over to make the thought leave, or go to her husband to get reassurance that she would never do such a thing. These things become her compulsions.
The constant barrage of intrusive thoughts, followed by the painstaking compulsions, can make life for people suffering from OCD unbearable. People often think they are going crazy and are losing touch with their minds. Sufferers have a higher chance of suicide, depression and losing their job.
Getting Stuck with OCD
So, when you have OCD you get stuck on certain thoughts, images, impulses, or feelings (obsessions). This causes immense anxiety. To make the thought and anxiety go away, people will perform rituals, think certain thoughts, or do specific things (compulsions). Compulsions bring momentary relief, but then the cycle starts again.
It is worth noting that before the last publication of the DSM, OCD was considered an anxiety disorder. Most OCD specialists feel that not including this as an anxiety disorder is incorrect since obsessions cause anxiety. However, the explanation of OCD is still the same, so to me it’s only a matter of semantics. It’s still treated the same and causes the same issues.
Here are some books on OCD if you want to get more information:
Freedom from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Stay Strong,
Jonathan