Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental condition in which patients have repeated, unwelcome thoughts, ideas, or feelings (obsessions) that cause them to feel compelled to do something again and over again (compulsions).
Hand washing, checking on items, and cleaning are examples of repeated habits that can severely interfere with everyday tasks and social interactions.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health disease that affects people of all ages and areas of life. It develops when a person becomes engrossed in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions.
Obsessions are intrusive, unwelcome thoughts, ideas, or impulses that cause highly uncomfortable sensations. Compulsions are actions that an individual participates in to free themselves of obsessions and reduce suffering.
Many people who do not have OCD have disturbing thoughts or repeated actions. However, these ideas and behaviours do not usually interfere with daily living.
Thoughts are constant in persons with OCD, and behaviours are inflexible. It is typical for people to experience considerable discomfort when they do not execute the activities.
Many persons with OCD are aware or suspect that their obsessions are not actual; others may believe they are (known as limited insight).
Even if they are aware that their habits are irrational, persons with OCD have difficulty disengaging from the obsessive thoughts or ceasing the compulsive behaviours.
Obsessions or compulsions that are time-consuming (more than one hour per day) cause considerable distress and impede job, or social functioning are required for an OCD diagnosis.
OCD affects 2-3% of the population in the United States, with women being somewhat more afflicted than males.
OCD is most commonly diagnosed in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood; the average age for symptoms is 19 years old.
Obsessions are recurring and persistent thoughts, urges, or pictures that elicit uncomfortable feelings like fear or hatred.
Many persons who suffer from OCD realise that their ideas, urges, or visions are a product of their minds and are excessive or illogical.
However, logic and reasoning cannot alleviate the anguish produced by these unwanted ideas.
Most persons with OCD use compulsions to help the agony caused by their obsessions, ignore or repress their obsessions, or occupy themselves with other activities.
Signs or Symptoms
Obsessions, compulsions, or both may be present in people with OCD. These symptoms can impact many parts of life, including jobs, education, and personal relationships.
Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause anxiety. Common symptoms include :-
Typical obsessions :-
- Worry about being polluted by other people or the environment.
- Embarrassing sexual ideas or pictures.
- Invading thoughts of noises, pictures, phrases, or numbers regularly
- Concern for order, symmetry, or accuracy to an extreme.
- Fear of misplacing or abandoning something valuable
- Fear of uttering profanity or insults.
Compulsions are recurrent actions or mental activities that a person feels compelled to undertake due to an obsession. The activities are generally used to avoid or relieve a person’s suffering due to a focus.
Compulsions can be excessive responses to a habit like excessive handwashing due to contamination anxiety or act entirely unconnected to the obsession.
Continuously repeating routines may occupy the day in the most severe instances, making a way impossible.
Typical compulsions :-
- Always looking for acceptance or reassurance.
- Arranging or ordering things in a specific order.
- Checking locks, switches, or appliances repeatedly.
- Hand washing, bathing, brushing teeth, or toileting that is excessive or ritualised.
- Counting up to a particular amount repeatedly
- Cleaning of home items regularly.
Not all recurrent activities or “rituals,” like obsessions, are compulsions, and it would help if you considered the function and context of the action.
For example, bedtime rituals, religious practices, and acquiring a new skill all entail some amount of repetition of an activity. Still, they are typically a good and functional aspect of everyday life, and Behaviours are context-dependent.
If a person works at a library, arranging and sorting books for eight hours a day is not a requirement.
Similarly, if you are a stickler for details or prefer to have things perfectly ordered, you may exhibit “compulsive” habits that may not qualify as OCD.
In this context, “compulsive” refers to a personality characteristic or aspect of oneself that you favour or enjoy.
Individuals with OCD, in most circumstances, feel compelled to participate in obsessive behaviour and would prefer not to do these time-consuming and, at times, agonising activities.
Compulsive activity is used in OCD to try to escape or minimise anxiety or the presence of obsessions.
Psychotherapy can be a useful treatment option for both adults and children suffering from OCD.
Specific forms of psychotherapy, such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and other associated therapies (e.g., habit reversal training), have been shown in studies to be as beneficial as medicine for many people.
Exposure and Response Prevention (EX/RP) CBT, which involves spending time in the situation that triggers compulsions (e.g., touching dirty objects) but then being prevented from engaging in the usual, resulting compulsion (e.g., handwashing), has also been shown to be effective in reducing compulsive behaviours in OCD, even in people who did not respond well to SRI medication.
As with other mental diseases, treatment is generally tailored to the individual and may begin with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of the two.
EX/RP is the preferred add-on treatment for many patients when SRIs or SSRIs do not adequately address OCD symptoms or vice versa for those who begin therapy with psychotherapy.