When people generally think of OCD they may see it as a person who likes to keep things in order like straightening things on a desk so they can be symmetrical or being extremely clean. It can also be viewed as someone who washes their hands too much or has to have something done in a particular way. While OCD can encompass these behaviors it does not come close to defining what it actually is. OCD is a mental disorder consisting of obsessions, compulsions and anxiety where an individual gets stuck in a cycle of managing their anxiety about their intrusive thoughts through their compulsions
The OCD cycle first starts in the head. It begins with intrusive thoughts or what’s clinically known as obsessions. These obsessions then lead the person to become very anxious to the point where a person has to do some behavior to try to get rid of the anxiety. This behavior is called a compulsion. Compulsions usually don’t make sense or fit the reality of a situation but are there mainly there to deal with the anxiety and obsessions. After a compulsion, people with OCD will generally feel some relief however the obsession comes back and the cycle repeats. Sometimes in extreme cases these OCD cycles can last for days and in worst case scenarios leave people housebound. To the naked eye, the OCD cycle typically plays out very quickly to where maybe the most observable behavior is the compulsions. Let’s break down the cycle to show you what this could look like in real life.
First of all, the obsession is an extreme intrusive thought containing violent, sexual, or morally degrading content. Most people can move on from these type of thoughts however a person with OCD cannot due to making these thoughts a part of their reality. For example someone with OCD has a thought while walking on the side walk with a friend “What if I push my friend into an oncoming car” As a result this individual begins to freak out internally that they had this thought and now cannot stop thinking about whether they are a serial killer or not. As we can see the thought has created a reality of the individual becoming a serial killer simply from the thought itself. Of course they never act out on the behavior of pushing their friend but it’s the thought they are identifying with causing significant distress.
As a result there is a huge increase in anxiety for the individual. As we know anxiety in our bodies is used to signal danger however the feelings of anxiety do not filter whether something is actually dangerous or not. Therefore a simple thought for someone with OCD “let’s push my friend in front of a car” can create the feeling that the danger is real even in a safe situation such as this.
Therefore in order to deal with the anxiety of whether they feel they are a serial killer or not the individual does some type of behavior or compulsion in order to try and reduce the anxiety. In this situation let’s say they try to change their thoughts about their friend and instead imagine themselves saving their friend from an oncoming car and may dwell on this thought repeatedly. Usually compulsions are repetitive in nature to try to get the relief from their anxiety. The compulsion then causes the anxiety to decrease for a time actually creating some relief but unfortunately not long term. The obsession comes back let’s say bringing up the fact that the person had the thought in the first place and the cycle begins again.
OCD is a very difficult disorder to deal with but fortunately it is treatable. If you suffer from OCD please consider seeing a mental health professional. If you’d like more information on how I treat OCD please visit my about page or consider a free consultation on my contact page.
