What’s up, we’re The Monologue, and today we’re gonna talk about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
OCD is often misunderstood as being “neat” or “organized” when in reality it is an anxiety disorder that causes the mind to focus on intrusive thoughts. These thoughts are usually uncomfortable to the person experiencing them and may stem from different sources such as health or religion. In many cases, in order to temporarily appease the intrusive thoughts, people will complete rituals or compulsions. These are activities that are repetitive and may seem random and unwarranted to an outsider, but they bring temporary relief from the person’s intrusive thoughts. Compulsions can be mental or physical, and for some people they may be tied to numbers, meaning they do the compulsions a certain number of times. Common ones include hand-washing, flicking a light switch, and organizing objects a certain way (hence the stigma). Not everyone experiences physical compulsions, and those who exhibit only mental ones have what is known as “Purely Obsessive” OCD.
Some common mental signs and symptoms that a person may have OCD include, but are not limited to, uncomfortable and repetitive thoughts, feeling a sense of guilt from the thoughts, difficulty moving past them, and a feeling of dread or guilt if you don’t perform compulsions. Some common physical signs and symptoms can include, but are not limited to, excessive hand washing, repeating tasks in sets of a certain number, excessive double-checking things like door locks or switches, excessive checking in on loved ones, and hoarding objects. Before self-diagnosing, if you believe you may suffer from OCD, make sure to check with your doctor or therapist before drawing conclusions. This will ensure that your issue is correctly identified and treated.
Helpful self-care tips for people struggling with OCD can be practicing grounding exercises such as making a list in your mind, meditation and resisting your compulsions. Although this last one can be very difficult, the less you appease your OCD by doing what it wants, the stronger you become and more able to stop the compulsions and with them, the thoughts. There is no certain “cure” for OCD, but treatments such as therapy and medication have proven to help those struggling with it. Common therapy methods used for this particular disorder include ERP therapy, or Exposure Response Prevention therapy, as well as CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. ERP tends to be more extreme and is used to help those suffering severely from their compulsions.
Resources
Depression/suicide text line: 741741
Suicide Hotline: 800-273-8255
Self-Harm Hotline: 800-366-8288
HopeLine: 919-231-4525 or 1-877-235-4525
International OCD Foundation: iocdf.org
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone: a story about a girl who struggles with OCD
Headspace: guided meditation
MindDoc: monitoring and self-management app for mental health
Wysa: An AI friend where you can chat about your day and/or feelings, stress, anxieties, thoughts, etc, and they will provide you with resources and supports
Reflectly: journal and mood tracking app
Sources
Cagetheheart’s obsessive-compulsive brain
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