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Nowadays, the word obsessions and compulsions are being used loosely. Anxiety illness, known as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), is characterized by obsessions and compulsions.
Obsessions are unwelcome, persistent, and often difficult to rid yourself of mental images. Unwanted thoughts like "I need to clean everything" can lead to compulsions, which are behaviors that sometimes occur in an effort to lessen the distress brought on by obsessions. As you might expect, these rituals and thoughts can significantly impact a person's everyday life.
Research has shown that obsessive-compulsive disorder affects around 3% of the population. It affects both men and women equally and usually starts in childhood or the teen years.
How Does Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Affect Your Mental Health?
OCD, like any other mental health concern, can significantly impact your everyday life. Intrusive thoughts may not leave you, and compulsions can make you question your behavior every day.
Obsessions and compulsions can interfere with social and familial ties. They might also be detrimental to work and education. Avoiding it can lead to bigger problems as OCD grows more serious.
People with OCD may find it challenging to carry out simple tasks like eating, drinking, shopping, or reading. Some individuals could end up housebound. Depression and other anxiety disorders, such as social anxiety, panic disorder, and separation anxiety, can exacerbate OCD.
People with OCD are frequently quite ashamed of their symptoms and will go to considerable lengths to conceal them. Families may become overly involved in the sufferer's rituals before the disease is recognized and treated, which can be upsetting and disruptive to family members.
Busting Myths about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
There is a common misconception that if you like to meticulously organize your things, keep your hands clean, or plan out your weekend to the last detail, you might have OCD.
So, let's bust some myths about obsessive-compulsive disorder:
Myth one: Repetitive or ritualistic behaviors are synonymous with OCD
The kind of action that people often associate with OCD, like excessive hand washing or checking things repeatedly, may be examples of obsessive or compulsive tendencies that many of us exhibit from time to time. But the actual disorder is far rarer and can be quite debilitating.
People affected have little or no control over their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors, which tend to be time-consuming and interfere with work, school, or social life to the point of causing significant distress. This separates people suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder from those who may just be a bit more meticulous.
Myth two: The main symptom of OCD is excessive hand washing
Although hand washing is the most common image of OCD in popular culture, obsessions and compulsions can take many forms. Obsessions can manifest as fears of contamination and illness, worries about harming others, or preoccupations with numbers, patterns, morality, or s*xual identity.
Compulsions can range from excessive cleaning or double-checking to the meticulous arrangement of objects or walking in predetermined patterns.
Myth three: Individuals with OCD don't understand that they are acting irrationally
Many individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder understand the relationship between their obsessions and compulsions quite well. Being unable to avoid these thoughts and actions despite being aware of their irrationality is part of the reason why OCD is so distressing.
Individuals with OCD report feeling crazy for experiencing anxiety based on irrational thoughts and finding it difficult to control their responses.
Causes and Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is considered a neurobiological disorder. In other words, research suggests that the brains of individuals with OCD are hardwired to behave in a particular fashion. Research has implicated three regions of the brain, variously involved in social behavior, complex cognitive planning, voluntary movement, and emotional and motivational responses.
Another piece of the puzzle is that OCD is associated with low serotonin levels, a neurotransmitter that communicates between brain structures and helps regulate vital processes, such as mood, aggression, impulse control, sleep, appetite, body temperature, and pain.
However, it is unclear whether serotonin and activity in these brain regions are the sources of OCD or symptoms of an unknown underlying cause of the disorder. We probably won't know until we have a much more intimate understanding of the brain.
The good news is that there are effective treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorders, including medications, which increase serotonin in the brain by limiting its reabsorption by brain cells, behavioral therapy that gradually desensitizes patients to their anxieties, and in some cases, electroconvulsive therapy, or surgery, when OCD doesn't respond to other forms of treatment.
Takeaway
As we have seen, obsessive-compulsive disorder is a real mental health concern. If you or your loved one is currently experiencing obsessions or compulsions, it's best to reach out to a mental health professional. While talking to friends and family is the first step, they may not necessarily see it as a mental health concern.
Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.
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