Obsessions and Compulsions (OCD)
Have you been diagnosed with OCD, or suspect you may have it ? With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), it may seem as if you are the only person that suffers with it. You are however not alone.
What exactly is OCD ? We have all heard of OCD and may in fact know someone that suffers with it. Well, it may surprise you to know that we are all a little prone to these tendencies. You may notice yourself squaring up those papers on your desk, arranging those ornaments so that they are ‘just so’, arranging your cd’s into specific genre or order. Of course these are relatively minor things, but when these things become so intrusive that they affect your life to a large degree then of course you have a problem. Some of the most common obsessions include fears of contamination, germs, dirt, diseases etc., imagining harming yourself or family members. Being out of control of a variety of situations such as taxes, pensions or having aggressive / intrusive sexual thoughts or urges. Others may include extreme religious or moral convictions, taboo thoughts, a need to tell, ask, or confess.
So clearly when they become so intrusive - such as hours of hand washing, washing your hands or clothes with bleach, endlessly re -covering the route that you’ve driven to check you didn’t run someone over then its quite possible you are suffering from OCD. So simply speaking the brain gets ‘stuck’ on a particular thought process and / or urge and wont let go. It is often said that it feels you have got hiccups in your mind that you can’t get rid of. Symptoms of OCD that I have been consulted with include the following, but the list is in no way exhaustive:
- I think having contact with my perspiration and/or other bodily secretions may contaminate me and/or my clothes.
- I wash and scrub my hands often (sometimes with bleach).
- I wash and/or clean fastidiously.
- I will not use public toilets for fears of disease or contamination.
- I am very anxious about cleanliness.
- It is uncomfortable for me to touch rubbish or dirty items.
- Uncomfortable thoughts enter my mind and I cannot stop thinking of them.
- I constantly analyse conversations and/or actions to ensure I didn’t do or say anything wrong.
- I have saved / hoarded so many items and collect things I don't really need that they clutter up my home and my life
- I repeatedly check things.
- I imagine awful things - that I may want to harm myself or family / friends.
- I get very agitated if items are disarranged or not in a particular order.
- I follow a particular routine in dressing or undressing
- I count things
- My work takes twice as long as it should because I repeat tasks over and over
- I have to repeat certain numbers in a sequence or odd or even numbers.
- Things I do or make have to be perfect.
- I have to repeat tasks until they feel right.
- Before going to bed I have an order of things I do.
- I repeat words or phrases or songs in my mind in order to wipe out wicked thoughts or to prevent ‘bad things’ happening.
- When I have carried out a task I constantly doubt that I have really done it.
- There are good and bad numbers.
Many people don’t realise that there are two sides to OCD: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unpleasant and distressing thought patterns ie. images or urges that keep intruding into your thoughts and are difficult to suppress.Compulsions are the behaviours that you have to carry out to resolve the obsessive thoughts. You just have to do them to do them repeatedly. These could be physical responses, like checking the doors are locked or mental responses such as repeatedly saying a phrase or song in your mind. It is possible that sufferers can have either obsessions or compulsions but unfortunately most have both.
OCD symptoms can cause great distress, but particularly take up huge amounts of time or extensively interfere with your daily work (to the point that you have to change jobs or even give up work entirely), social life, and personal relationships. Whilst most people with OCD realise their obsessions and compulsions are irrational, it does not help in bringing about any relief, in fact it tends to frustrate even more. It can be that symptoms come and go, worsen or lessen or change to other rituals over time. Some may be little more than “white noise’ others of course can cause much distress.
The disorder appears to begin at any time from early school age and into adulthood (usually by age 40). Unfortunately, OCD often goes unrecognised. Because of this it tends to go undiagnosed and untreated. Initially the sufferer can be quite secretive / embarrassed about the symptoms and on occasions healthcare professionals can be unaccustomed to the symptoms. There appears to be no proven cause of OCD. The research that has been carried out would suggest that OCD involves communication problems between parts of the brain. However, it would seem that the symptoms do appear to become more extreme during periods of stress. There is therefore a train of thought that OCD is the symptom of some underlying anxiety, and therefor sufferers can also find themselves being very ‘stressed’ people.
Before the use of such techniques as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Hypnotherapy, OCD was thought to be untreatable. Unfortunately many people continue to suffer with these symptoms for years, but therapy can help and most people with OCD will achieve symptom relief and achieve control over their symptoms rather than their symptoms controlling them. I work with clients, reducing the stress levels and helping them to relax their way through the anxiety provoking thoughts / behaviours, introducing coping strategies and to look forward to a new and better life. The therapy is challenging and will require an active participation from you but success rates are very good. I will discuss the amount of sessions with you but these would normally number around six to eight, ideally on a weekly basis. As ever, all discussions are totally confidential.