All or most of us have the habit of double checking if the house is locked before leaving home or cleaning the house extensively till it is spotlessly clean. But if such behavior becomes an obsession that you can't help doing it and go about it compulsively to the extent that it affects your normal life, it might be a case of OCD. OCD which is the acronym for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a chronic disorder in which a person has uncontrollable reoccurring thoughts and an unavoidable urge to perform a particular activity over and over.

How to know if it is OCD?

People affected with OCD have both, obsessional and compulsion symptoms. Obsessions are repeated thoughts, images and urges that create anxiety in human mind like fear of contamination or germs, expecting things to stay in perfect order, feeling taboo against caste, sex religion, and corresponding harm and so on.
Compulsions are repetitive actions performed by an OCD patient in response to his or her obsessional thoughts which may include excessive washing, cleaning, arranging things in a particular way, repeated checking out things or work done, counting things over and over again and more.
However, not all repetitive actions are signs of OCD. It's common to see a person checking a crucial work done by him twice. This becomes obsessive when a person is not able to control his thoughts and activities, gets distressed about not performing those activities and spends a significant amount of time in a day on these tasks.
Who are vulnerable to OCD?
The causes of OCD are not yet clearly known. However, people have higher chances of developing OCD when their first-degree relatives are affected by the problem. Moreover, the risk goes even higher when the first-degree relative was affected at his young or teenage. Researchers are still working to find the link between OCD and genes so that causes, diagnosis, and treatment of OCD get better in future.

Studies have also revealed that there might be some connection between OCD and abnormalities in some regions of the brain. People who experience traumatizing experiences in their childhood or during their life are highly susceptible to OCD. However, such ideas have not yet been proved.

How can the condition be managed?
OCD is treated with psychotherapy, meditation, or a combination of both. However, some medicines help to get over OCD and its symptoms. But the best way to help an OCD patient is if he can himself get his obsessions and compulsion under control. Medicines will always help OCD symptoms but might have some side effects.

The OCD symptoms may come and go, go easy over time or worsen. Patients might identify the problem themselves or might fail to understand the abnormalities in their lifestyle. If a person feels that he/she is being affected by OCD, there is a need to consult the doctor before it disturbs the normal life.

An Insight On Obsessive Compulsive Disorder!

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is also known as OCD. It is a mental ailment that causes specific changes in the brain as well as the behaviour of the patient. It can also cause severe anxiety and lead the patient to consume a lot of time for completing even the most normal tasks. These obsessions are like thoughts, images and even videos playing where the cause of a certain action becomes more profound with the number of imagined risks if it is not done in a specific way, as per the mind of the patient. These turn into repetitive actions undertaken by the patient, where these actions are known as compulsions.

Hence the term: obsessive compulsive disorder. Washing, cleaning, losing control, contamination fears and more are only a few of the thoughts that plague patients suffering from this disorder. While this disorder may not have a specific cure, there are various ways in which it can be managed. Let us look at some of these methods.

What Causes OCD-

The exact cause of OCD is unknown. It is generally considered unlikely that OCD develops purely psychologically as a consequence of the way we are brought up.

Genetics and Physiology: It is generally accepted that OCD arises from differences in the physiology of the brain in people with the condition.
Serotonin: Lack of serotonin activity appears to be involved in causing OCD. Serotonin is a calming and inhibitory neurotransmitter, one of its main actions is to control and put the brakes on painful, worrying or anxious thoughts.
Traumatic Life Events: Traumatic emotional events such as bereavement may trigger or worsen OCD in people who already have a tendency to have the condition.
Treatment of OCD-

For best results in treating this troublesome anxiety disorder combine brain-chemistry balancing approaches with psychotherapy techniques.

Nutritional Therapy: Try tryptophan and St John's Wort to increase serotonin. Rhodiola has been shown to help generalised anxiety disorder however Rhodiola has the ability to raise 'brain energy' and therefore hypothetically may exa-sperate OCD symptoms.
L-theanine or just theanine for short is an amino acid found in tea that has a calming and anti-anxiety effect. Theanine increases GABA activity in the brain and is well worth a try.
The Inositol Treatment of OCD: Inositol, one of the B vitamins, has been found effective in treating OCD. Inositol is used in biochemical processes that affect serotonin receptors.
Psychotherapy: This is also known as discussion or talk therapy where the patient is allowed to engage with a therapist who is usually a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist. The doctor will help the patient in first of all, becoming aware of the problem by helping the patient carry out various tasks in a controlled environment. These tasks will be timed and then relayed to the patient before the exposure therapy begins, where the patient will be taught to build a better quality of life. This a long term and time taking process which can also involve group sessions and sessions with the family members. Also, this method takes a lot of practice so that the patient learns how to regulate the obsessions and stop the compulsive behaviour gradually.
Exercise: Numerous studies have shown the benefits of exercise upon mental health. So, a minimum of 20mins of daily exercise can help you a lot.
Relaxation Training & Meditation: Learning meditation and relaxation techniques may enhance one's ability to control anxiety and one's thoughts in general.
Medication: There are various kinds of medicines that can be prescribed for these patients. Anti-depressants can help the patient in overcoming the fears and anxiety that a person feels when the wheels of one's imagination begin to turn towards obsessive thoughts. This will also help in tackling the hopelessness that the person feels when faced with the so called depressing outcome of not bowing to the compulsive habits.
Putting It All Together-

Follow the diet for serotonin deficient depression, and GABA deficient anxiety.
Consult with a qualified therapist using behavioural rather than analytical techniques.
Do some repetitive mind-occupying/filling as opposed to mind-emptying meditations everyday.

How to Deal with OCD

OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an anxiety disorder, which can be indicated through obsession, having pervasive thoughts or thoughts, which may upset you, having certain compulsions, and practicing certain rituals, which may help to control or manage your obsessions. It is a disorder, which cannot be cured, but can be controlled with the help of treatment. Mostly, OCD is considered to be a lifelong disorder. It often circulates around the fear of germs or sickness and around keeping order and maintaining patterns. A person suffering from OCD can often be extremely annoying. Hence here are a few tips you can use to deal with OCD:

1. Understand OCD: The first step towards dealing with OCD is to know what you have to deal with. Gather as much information as you can about OCD and also read up about how you can overcome it. You need to know the symptoms of OCD so you can identify the disorder. Almost everyone suffers from OCD at one point of their lives. Hence, it is extremely important to understand OCD in order to treat it.

2. Work with your compulsions: Do not get petrified about your compulsions if you are planning to overcome your OCD, instead work with them. Try not to encourage their development. If you are worrying about whether you have switched of the lights, try and develop a mental picture of you doing it. If you are able to get a clear picture, then you have, otherwise you can go and switch it off. Another option is to maintain a list where you tick off the activity once you have done it so that you don't have to worry about it later on. 

3. Maintain a journal: Maintaining a journal will help you curb your fears and negative thoughts. Write down all your obsessive thought and reflect on how they are affecting you and whether they are worth your worry or time. Gradually you will see that you are able to control these thoughts and will be able to push away any negativity which comes along with them.

4. Remind yourself about the good in you: Make this your regular practice. Do not undermine yourself, instead make yourself feel good. This will help you to get over the fact that you have done something wrong in your daily activities (like not turning the gas off when you actually have) and that wrong is going to harm people.

Chronic OCD will require therapy and medical assistance. Hence if you are able to detect the signs at an early level and are able to adopt the above measures to control it, then going to a doctor might not be necessary.

Tips to Deal With Ocd

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is a psychological disorder where you feel compelled to perform irrational tasks in continuous patterns almost ritualistically. These compulsive thoughts may seem, upon examination that they are without any particular reason or rhyme. Naturally, a psychological disorder is not voluntary and people who suffer under this disorder don t voluntarily like to make their lives difficult contrary to some who would say  if you don t like it don t do it. 

It is not a simple matter, OCD can have a lot of underlying reasons which makes life even more difficult and wears you out. You still can t get over a particular thought until you have performed it a given number of times even if it harms your health and the relief is also short lived. For the naysayers who don t realise, how difficult life can be for people suffering from OCD here are a few reasons that you should consider:

Depression: People with OCD are also prone to suffering from depression. A sense of feeling like you are not like others, you see the world a little differently and obsessively repeat such compulsive lines of thought until it wears you out mentally. It is a side effect of OCD and deeply affects their lifestyle negatively.
Anxiety: When you have OCD you suffer from constant anxiety about things you may not have done that you must do or vice versa, or very intrusive thoughts that make you anxious wondering about the kind of person you are or becoming. It is a constant battle everyday trying not to repeatedly perform all the compulsive behaviours that may strike you and makes daily life immensely difficult.
Eating disorders: Suffering from OCD also affects your diet and food habits. You either start over eating or not eating enough resulting in huge amounts of weight gain or noticeable weight loss or just a fluctuation in weight.
Skin rashes: The outer manifestations of OCD are numerous. If you suffer from obsessive, washing of hands or clothes or any activity that requires constantly irritating your skin then you will develop rashes which will cause more anxiety in you. It s just a facet of OCD wherein you become obsessed with cleanliness and can t go without feeling anxious about the number of toxins surrounding you so you go about trying to almost sterilise yourself and end up damaging your skin.
Sleep disturbances: Your sleeping pattern gets affected if you can t build up a routine and then you can t sleep until it s a certain hour at a certain time of the day. Or if you suffer from paranoia then you are unable to sleep because you are actively worried about something or the other. Anxiety also contributes to restlessness.

5 Reasons Why OCD Makes Life Difficult!

Shannon L. Alder once said,  Sensitive people usually love deeply & hate deeply. They don't know any other way to live than by extremes because their emotional thermostat is broken. 

Sometimes certain thoughts & habits become so addictive at times that even while being aware of its futility the person fails to resist from indulging in it. Obsessive Compulsive Disorders can be extremely debilitating & can easily thwart subjective well-being. The main features of this illness are obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are certain thoughts, doubts, images or urges that occur in one's mind. These are unwanted, repetitive by nature. Most people with OCD realize that obsessions are senseless, irrational, or excessive, but they are unable to ignore or suppress them. They would attempt to resist and control them, but would not succeed. Obsessions cause significant distress and anxiety to the sufferers and as a result cause interference in their day to day functioning.

Compulsions are repetitive acts that the person is driven to carry out in spite of knowing that they are meaningless, unnecessary or excessive. Compulsions are usually in response to obsessions. For example, a person with an obsessive fear of contamination washes hands repeatedly in order to ensure that his or her hands are clean. The person attempts to resist repeated hand-washing, but gives in to the urge so as to relieve him or herself of the anxiety or discomfort. Persons with OCD often perform certain acts repeatedly to avoid some dreaded event or to prevent or undo some harm to themselves or others. For instance, touching the floor even number of times to prevent an accident.

They are aware most of the time that the activity is not connected in a logical or realistic way with what was intended to be achieved, or that it may be clearly excessive (as in the case of hand-washing compulsions), but cannot control them as they reduce anxiety, at least transiently.

Common Symptoms in OCD:

Some common obsessions-

- Fear of getting dirty, contaminated or infected by persons or things in the environment.

- Blasphemous thoughts.

- Thoughts of harming or killing others or oneself.

- Doubts that a task or assignment has been done poorly or incorrectly.

- Recurring thoughts or images of sexual nature.

- Fear of blurting out obscenities.

- Fear of developing a serious life-threatening illness.

- Preoccupation to have objects arranged in a certain order or position.

Some common compulsions:

- Repeated hand-washing, taking unusually long time to bathe, or cleaning items in the house.

- Ordering or rearranging things in a certain manner.

- Checking locks, electrical outlets, gas knobs, light switches etc. repeatedly.

- Repeatedly putting clothes on, and then taking them off.

- Counting over and over to a certain number.

- Touching certain objects in a specific way.

- Repeating certain actions, such as going through a doorway.

- Constantly seeking approval (especially children)

What are not obsessions?

The common usage of the word obsession as in,  he is obsessed with music  is not an obsession as used in the context of OCD. Here the person indulges in the activity with complete will, has control over them and derives pleasure out of the activity.

When one is fired from a job or loses someone close to them, it is natural to brood over the event. However, these thoughts are not considered as senseless or irrational, though they may cause some discomfort. Similarly, a person appearing for an examination may feel anxious and worry about the results, which could occupy considerable amount of his time. These thoughts, though unwelcome, are under his control and not experienced as senseless. The above experiences are obviously not obsessions. The common usage of the word obsession as in,  he is obsessed with music  is not obsession as used in the context of OCD. Here the person indulges in the activity with complete will, has control over them and derives pleasure out of the activity.

Treatment:

Your clinical psychologist might subject you to anyone from a variety of treatment strategy available based on the severity of the condition and course of illness. Client specific psychological treatment is recommended according to unique triggers and patterns of obsessions/compulsions.

Cognitive Behavioral therapy comprises of a variety of techniques used to modify or replace maladaptive thoughts, emotions and behaviors with more adaptive forms of the same. Obsessions and compulsions seen in OCD are examples of maladaptive behaviors as they cause significant distress and interfere with normal functioning of an individual. Behavior therapy helps to remove obsessions and compulsions and thereby ameliorate the distress.

In treating OCD several CBT techniques are used. One of them,  Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) , is the most effective and widely used technique.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - All You Should Know!

One of the researches that have come out a few years back suggested that almost every individual has an obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) to an extent. The trouble starts when this anxiety disorder breaches out of control and damages his/her social well-being. What is obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)? Let us have a look at it in detail.

What is obsessive Compulsive Disorder?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type anxiety disorder, where people have a recurring feeling to do an activity with unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations (obsessions). The recurring feeling can drive them to do the activity repetitively (compulsions). The repetitive behaviors can include simple tasks like hand washing, checking and rechecking things, Cleanliness and hygiene. They have a potential to interfere with a person s social interactions and his general well being. Our human mindset is made up of thoughts for which an equal action occurs. 

For people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), these ideas continue to dominate them to do the same thing again repeatedly and not doing them causes great distress and agony to them. Most of the people with OCD can recognize that they have the condition, but the imbalances make them unable to stop the occurrences. They usually start at an early stage and continue into adulthood where the condition dominates at its peak. For most of them, an OCD can exist as just a random thought - often disturbing, and they would be helpless in most cases to have a control over it. Some of the examples of the compositions include cleaning, hygiene, Checking and re-checking, arranging and mental compulsions.

Treatment for OCD:
So now since it is established that it is an imbalance of the brain let us look at the treatment possibilities. One of the treatments is the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy under the Psychiatry Branch. The therapy is an exposure type of treatment where the patients are exposed to the situations where they have basically no control of. Through this exposure and in medically contained environments, patients can identify that they can control and monitor their anxiety and depression levels without having to do the repetitive behavior. It can be a bit challenging for the cases that involve mental illusions as they cannot be recreated, but they can be effectively curbed when channeled through alternative means. Also, medications and anxiety reducing drugs along with the psychiatric therapy can help to a great extent in the treatment. Relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, and massages also help in having greater control of the disease.

Having a healthy lifestyle and having a general awareness of the warning signs and what do to when the indications occur can go a long way in the betterment of the life. It is a slow treatment process and requires a lot of patience for the therapy to be successful. Having patience in a way contributes towards the well-being of the person indirectly.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - How to Get It Treated?

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