It is quite disturbing that people often use the term OCD in
a way that it sounds like something common or mild and as if the condition is
nothing serious. Anytime people say “in case you have OCD” or that they have a
little bit of OCD, I don’t think it is appropriate. Those people are punishable
by a big kick in the mouth, repeatedly. There is no such thing as a little bit of OCD and there is no
need, under joking circumstances, to say something presuming any chance that
you live with the condition. You are not a doctor; even if you are, you must be
a very bad one. Doctors don’t make jokes about their patients.
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| Feeling the urge to wash a fork before and after meal is hardly a sign of OCD |
OCD, which stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is a
type of mental illness that can affect people of all ages. There are two major components
of the condition: Obsession and Compulsion - in that particular order. A person
with OCD cannot help but display certain compulsive behaviors anytime the
individual is faced with unwanted yet inevitable intrusive distressing anxious feelings
or thoughts. Unwanted obsession (which causes the distress) comes first, and
the compulsion follows as a form of counter-measure to relive the anxiety.
People can be obsessed with many things such as cars, toys, neighbors,
Game of Thrones, or maybe porn stars. As a result, they also probably have
excessive worries, doubts, fears, or superstitions every now and then. The vast
majority can control these thoughts and feelings in a way that they avoid doing
compulsive behaviors to reduce the obsessions. People trigger largely
unnoticeable responses for example if you come across your neighbor-slash-crush,
you can pretend to look the other way or type something on your phone; when
Internet is down and you can’t stream the latest movies featuring your favorite
stars, you can wait for few hours and stop by your neighbor instead. The point
is you have the option to give any kind of hopefully
appropriate response that makes logical sense.
OCD patients have their own overweening fears and concerns.
The big difference is that they cannot control the worries; in fact, the
worries are in control of their lives. When these worries come across their
minds, they try to handle their situations by doing some compulsive behaviors
that may not make any sense at all. In many cases the worries are simply
triggered by something very common for examples untidy desk, improper alphabetization
of stuffs, disposal of unused items, being in a crowd, or asymmetrical layout
of something. In their minds, such occurrences are chaotic and may result in
serious (even life-threatening) consequences.
Possible Causes of
OCD
People with OCD are often portrayed in popular media as
those who constantly need to wash hands, clean everything, tidy up even a slightest
mess, or have rituals to start every morning. In real life situation it is not
the rituals that matter, but the conditions that make the patients do the
rituals. While OCD is not yet fully understood, there are several theories
concerning what may cause it to happen:
- Genetics: there is possible genetic component related to OCD – no specific genes have been identified.
- Environment: changes in environment or infections may trigger OCD. This may include stressful or traumatic life events which lead to emotional distress. Experiences of traumatic events increase the risk of triggering a cycle intrusive anxious thoughts. Again, more research is needed to confirm this theory.
- Biology: changes in brain functions may cause OCD. It is also possible that OCD is related to other mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders.
What has been understood is that an instance of OCD happens
because the patient’s brain incorrectly processes certain information. Any kind
of obsession, worries, and fears must be dealt with immediately or they never
stop. In other words, the brain gets caught in a cycle of intrusive thoughts. Keep
in mind that people with OCD understand that their brains’ warning systems do
not work correctly; they understand the anxiety is not real but they don’t have
the capacity to get away from the intimidating thoughts. During an OCD episode,
the patient is tortured with a seemingly endless anxiety and desperately trying
to stop it.
Obsessions and
Compulsion
As mentioned earlier, many people have some sorts of
obsessions and perhaps compulsive behaviors as well but it does not necessarily
mean everyone has OCD. Only when obsession and compulsion are inseparable train
of thoughts and become extreme to the point where they disrupt life or daily
activities, then they need to be treated from medical perspectives.
The term “obsession” is indeed often used in everyday casual
conversation. There is no law to prevent you from using or writing it. As a
matter of fact, the ability to spell obsession properly is a reliably sign of
average IQ. What you need to understand is how to differentiate the context
between obsession as a disorder and as a pleasantly normal thing.
In an OCD case,
obsession does not have any pleasurable component. People with OCD do not want
to get caught in obsession with anything. For OCD patients, obsession is
time-consuming, exhausting their energy, and extremely interfering with their
lives. Once again, the patients mostly realize that their obsessions are not
real but they cannot get rid of the uncomfortable feelings.
Compulsion follows obsession. Similarly the compulsion part
is repetitive and done to at least neutralize the obsession. OCD patients
develop many different compulsive behaviors for examples trying to count number
to infinity, repeating the same phrases for long period, washing their hands
excessively, and relentless tapping, and so on. In any case, those compulsive
behaviors are not pleasant for OCD patients but they have to do it as temporary
relief. One of the common suggestions to avoid doing the rituals is to keep the
obsession going. For some patients this is just impossible or simply too
disturbing if the obsession is in the form of continuous negative thoughts.
In non OCD case, obsession
is more likely used to describe a somehow excessive fondness of something. You
may be obsessed with a song, a woman, a man, a cartoon character, James Bond,
The Walking Dead, a phone, and so on. Even with that many obsessions, however,
you can still do your daily activities without triggering a massive mental and
physical breakdown. If you keep listening to a song from your shiny new phone
during class activity, you can’t say you have an OCD when the teacher asks you
to get out. You don’t have an OCD; you are just not the best student. Claiming
to have an OCD as an excuse makes you a bad person. You don’t develop
disruptive compulsive behavior when you get bored with the song the next day or
when a bigger shinier phone which looks exactly the same and does exactly the
same things becomes available next week. And assuming you cry every time a new
phone is released, the crying is not a compulsive behavior, it is just
something else.
Treatments
Therapy and medications are the most common treatments for
OCD patients. Therapy may include physical activities to help get rid of the
obsession excessiveness for examples undisruptive relaxation techniques and
regular exercise; medications may include SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor)
drugs such as Zoloft and Prozac. Education to help patients understand more
about their conditions may also help.