What is OCD?
OCD stands for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, a condition in which a person suffers from unwanted, recurring thoughts and urges, or obsessions, alongside seemingly uncontrollable and repetitive behaviours or compulsions.
It is sometimes portrayed as ‘quirky’ and is frequently misunderstood. For example, a person may say they are ‘a little bit OCD’ because they straighten the furniture or check that the door is locked.
However, OCD, in reality, is very debilitating and can have a major adverse impact on a life. The World Health Organisation (WHO) ranked it in the top 10 most debilitating conditions to affect people’s finance and life.
Though there are no definitive answers right now, it is thought that OCD is caused by a lack of serotonin in the brain; it could also be passed on genetically.
Symptoms can start in childhood, but OCD usually begins in teenage years and young adulthood.
What are the symptoms of OCD?
OCD symptoms and behaviours are often caused by an excessive obsessive fear of something. For example, something bad will happen to you and / or a loved one.
The obsessions, the troubled and unwanted thoughts, lead to anxiety and distress, driving the sufferer to carry out ritualistic compulsive acts, which they believe will lead to the stress being ameliorated. However, the compulsive ritualistic acts do not ease the ego-dystonic beliefs and instead, the individual can experience distress when carrying out these ritualistic compulsive acts, thus precipitating further obsessive thoughts leading to the vicious cycle of OCD.
This can even lead to physical harm such as repetitive scrubbing of hands, which can become sore and chapped as well as a significant burden on finances due to continuous purchasing of cleaning products; the process of repeating these acts is timeconsuming, thus the person with OCD has not only harmed their hands, but also eaten into their finances and also their time. Other symptoms may include:
- anxiety, fear or unease caused by unpleasant, unwanted thoughts
- unreasonably heightened fears of dirt or untidiness
- excessive expectations of perfection in oneself or others
- arranging and rearranging objects in patterns
- repeating the same phrase or word
- impulsive and/or reckless behaviour
How does Talkmind treat OCD?
Psychotropic medication such as antidepressants and in rare cases, off licence antipsychotics may be offered to patients. Also, therapies such as exposure therapy and CBT can help alleviate the symptoms of OCD. Other treatments include:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Exposure Therapy
- Psychotropic medications such as antidepressants
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Off license antipsychotics*
*These tend to be used only in rare cases
So if you feel compelled to switch the lights on and off exactly 10 times before bed, just to keep you ‘safe’, you may be an OCD sufferer.
But we have specialist therapists who will listen, treat your condition and significantly improve your quality of life.
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Signs of OCD
- Cleaning routines that take up a huge amount of time
- Excessive hand washing
- Turning lights on and off a certain number of times
- Arranging objects repeatedly
- Counting to a certain number
- Repeating phrases
- Avoiding certain places or people
- Behaving recklessly
- Having extravagant ideas that are unrealisticÂ
- Behaving impulsively, for example booking a plane ticket last minute in search of an adventure
- Disregard for one’s safety, perhaps engaging in risky or irresponsible activities, such as gambling, spending sprees or unsafe sexÂ
- Anxiety
- Delusions
- Hallucinations
- Paranoia