Outline
Introduction
As most readers might know, OCD is a mental health disorder, and as most of you might recall, it has something to do with washing hands or planning your day to the minutest detail, however, this definition is not entirely accurate, nor does it tackle the seriousness of the disorder.
So, to begin with, we’ll start by understanding this disease, and to get everyone on the same page, we’ll start from the very basic.
However, please note that this article isn’t a diagnostic tool for OCD, it will just make you aware of the disorder, and if you happen to have most of the symptoms, we suggest you consult a doctor.
What is OCD?
OCD is Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, a person suffering from it might have obsessions, which are intrusive and unwanted thoughts, urges, or images that occur frequently, and are quite distressing, and to put that down one might perform certain rituals that can subside these compulsions on a temporary basis.
This cycle of repressive obsessions and compulsions is fairly common, but when this becomes so extreme that one spends a huge amount of time, then it will be classified as OCD.
Now, you won’t call someone who does these once in a while or have obsessive thoughts not-so-frequently as ‘having OCD’, everyone has them from time to time, and only when it becomes so repressive that it significantly interferes with one’s personal life, we call it OCD.
Symptoms
Symptoms of OCD vary with time and age, and new rituals keep popping up every now and then. However, we will talk about some common symptoms, but keep in mind that the symptoms aren’t Universal (like someone with OCD will and will excessively wash their hands), everyone has their own rituals and anxieties which may or may not be largely similar to the next person with the disorder.
Obsessions
We’ll first take a look at the symptoms, and after that, we’ll take an example of someone with the disease and do a dynamic exploration of the symptoms (mainly obsessions).
Compulsions
Now, before we come to the compulsions, we must take care that not all repetitive activities or ‘compulsions’ may not be OCD, maybe you just like things in a neat order or you might be learning something new thing (or just solving some math problems), that requires some repetition, that isn’t OCD, those compulsions are being done because you want them to be done, your mind isn’t forcing you to say, do 20 problems in math, you are doing them because you want to (same with religious behaviors).
However, someone who has OCD doesn’t do these tasks because they want to but because they’re forced to (this doesn’t apply when you’re forced to do your homework by your teacher, even though you might not want to do it, it still isn’t OCD). They might start avoiding tasks that require them to fulfill these compulsions which can have an adverse effect on their schedules and work lives.
The following are some common compulsions performed, don’t worry if you don’t grasp them yet, they will become clear as we see an example.
Living with OCD| Tedx
Taking an example of a little girl, Samantha, when we were young, she didn’t know anything about her disease, she thought that it was normal for her to get symmetry in both sides of her body, for example, if she accidentally brushed her left arm against a wall, the same would have to be done with her right arm until they both had exactly the same feeling.
One day, she recalls, her brother pushed her against a pole, instead of thinking about how bad it hurt, she rammed into the pole with her other arm, she hit herself 8 times proper symmetry was achieved (and she ended up in a hospital with many bruises).
This is a compulsion that she had to do, someone shakes her right hand, she will self-shake her left hand, and vice-versa. She also says that she always used to make her notes perfect, that is, notes had to be written in the same font, with the same spacing everywhere, and must be devoid of stains and other stuff, she says that she used to ‘iron’ her notes, yes, ‘iron’ her notes to remove all the stains, and to make all the pages even.
As the number of notes increased in college, she stopped taking down notes completely and her grades went down, as a result, this is a classic example of trying to avoid the compulsions in an OCD patient, here, making notes isn’t the compulsion, everyone in her class does it, but the ‘ironing’ and striving for perfectionism is an unwanted ‘compulsions’.
Now, other symptoms might include avoiding certain numbers or repeating something like blinking a ‘good’ or ‘safe’ number of times, or maybe avoiding the lines between tiles and not stepping on broken tiles (unless it is religious), or walking in a certain pattern, something like the left foot must always touch the ground first if this isn’t done, then deep anxiety like something bad might happen with you will take over you. (If your motivation for doing these things is religious, then you might be exempt from it).
The thing with OCD is that anyone can have it, even highly skilled professionals might involve themselves in some rituals that might look bizarre to us, and most even know how nonsensical their rituals are, but it is their minds forcing them to do these mostly torturous rituals.
What causes OCD and how can we cure it?
Genetics(Cause): The causes of OCD are largely unknown, but scientists know that OCD usually runs along family lines and one has a high chance of having it if one of their family members has it.
Neurotransmitters(Cause): It is believed that OCD patients’ brains are wired to think that way and it is seen that their brains are associated with low levels of serotonin, and serotonin reuptake inhibitors are seen to provide relief from OCD.
Therapies: OCD can be treated by Cognitive behavioral therapy (C.B.T.). C.B.T. is a gradual process where the patient learns to control their anxieties by first subjecting them to things that cause less anxiety and slowly moving on to the bigger things, and finally, giving a patient a great degree of control over the anxieties.
Sources
Tags: #mentalhealth
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