OCD is often misunderstood in popular culture. It is commonly simplified and portrayed in media as obsession with cleanliness or order i.e. handwashing or arranging objects on a specific way, but there is a much more nuanced spectrum that OCD can manifest itself.
What is OCD?
Technically speaking, OCD is characterized by recurrent and persistent unwanted thoughts, images, or bodily sensations that provoke significant anxiety or high distress. As a response to this distress, the individual engages in repetitive acts, otherwise known as compulsions. These repetitive acts function to reduce the distress caused by the obsessions.
What are obsessions? Obsessions can range from intrusive repetitive thoughts, images, and bodily sensations to external stimuli, such as colors, words, or sounds. What makes an otherwise neutral stimulus become an obsession is its persistent nature and the level of distress that it generates in the OCD sufferer.
What are compulsions? Compulsions follow the obsessions. In other words, they are any acts that the OCD sufferer engages in to reduce, neutralize, or get rid of the anxiety triggered by the obsessions. Compulsions are categorized into physical and mental:
Physical compulsions are observable behaviors, such as washing hands, tapping, cleaning, checking if doors are locked, arranging items, and seeking reassurance from others.
Mental compulsions are internal and cannot be seen by others. Mental compulsions include replaying events and conversations, praying, repeating mantras over and over, counting, and rumination.
What makes an otherwise neutral mental activity become a compulsion is how excessively the sufferer engages with it and how hard it is for them to stop themselves from doing it. While compulsions can offer momentary relief from anxiety, they ultimately reinforce the OCD cycle and leave the sufferer feeling exhausted and stuck.
Putting it all together
OCD is a highly distressing condition that manifests in recurrent obsessions that lead to compulsive acts or rituals. Compulsions can be physical (checking stove) or mental (replaying events over and over in your head). Compulsions function to momentarily reduce the anxiety triggered by the obsessions (unwanted stimuli) but do not teach the sufferer how to effectively cope with anxiety and ultimately recover from OCD.
Recovery Journey
Fortunately, recovery from OCD is possible, and the journey starts by identifying the idiosyncratic way OCD shows up for you:
- What are your specific obsessions?
- How do they show up?
- What are you doing to try and reduce the distress?
- Are you engaging in effective coping tools or compulsions that make you feel drained and stuck?
The answers to these questions can provide important data on how to work with your OCD.
If you believe you or someone you care about might be struggling with OCD, please know that you are not alone, and that recovery is possible with proper treatment.
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