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What Is OCD?
Have you ever, after having gone to bed for the night, had the thought,
"Oh, dear, did I lock the back door?", and then gotten out of bed to go
and check to be sure that you indeed had? Or, perhaps you wondered, "Did
I turn off the oven when I finished baking those cookies?" and you couldn't
go to sleep until you checked to be sure that the oven was "OFF". Have you
ever been in your car, backing out of your driveway, when the question
entered your mind, "Did I lock the house?", and, just to be sure, you
stopped the car and got out to run to the front door to see if it was
locked? If you have been "guilty" of any episodes like these, there is no
need to panic. You are perfectly normal. We have ALL had our moments of
doubt when we needed to reassure ourselves that things were in order.
But for roughly 2-4% of the population, these unsettling thoughts and then the subsequent checking behaviors race out of control and consume more and more of the person's time and energy. OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, has been described as a mental "hiccup", and the uneasy feeling of not having locked the door--and the possible subsequent consequences-- becomes an all-consuming fear. In an attempt to appease the panic, the sufferer checks, and rechecks, and then checks again to be sure the door is locked, but, because of some sort of mental glitch, the message doesn't get through to that part of the brain where the panic originates; therefore, no amount of checking is enough, and because the panic and fear is still there, the person continues to frantically check--in some cases for hours and hours at a time. OCD is also referred to the "Doubting Disease" for this very reason.
I am using "checking" here as an example, but actually this is just one of several different manifestations of OCD that can vary from person to person. I personally suffered mostly with the fear of contamination from germs, dirt, chemicals, etc., (which is called an OBSESSION), and my response to that fear was to try to eliminate the awful panic it created by washing my hands (until they actually bled at one point of time in my life), taking showers, and performing complex cleaning rituals. (These are called COMPULSIONS--acts that you feel MUST be done to avoid unimaginable consequences.) I also had some of the classic "checking" compulsions because of the fear of having not locked my door upon leaving the house or car, therefore making it possible for someone to invade and contaminate "MY space" in my absence.
Obsessions are thoughts, images, or impulses that occur over and over again and feel out of your control. They are disturbing and intrusive, and quite unwelcome by the sufferer. Common obsessions include the fear of germs, dirt, etc., imagining having harmed someone, imagining losing control of aggressive urges, intrusive sexual thoughts or urges, and a need to have things "just so". Compulsions are acts performed, often over and over and over again, in an attempt to appease or eliminate the acute negative feelings evoked by the obsessions. Unlike compulsive eating, drinking, or gambling, OCD compulsions are not pleasurable-- in fact, just the opposite is true; they can be quite torturous. The OCD sufferer does these acts, not because he WANTS to or because they give him pleasure, but because he feels he MUST--he HAS to perform them--to obtain some degree of relief from the discomfort caused by the obsession and to avoid the possible dire consequences that seem to lurk just beyond the horizon. Common compulsions include: Washing, Repeating, Checking, Touching, Counting, Ordering/arranging, and Hoarding or saving.
This all sounds crazy, doesn't it? It does even to me, and I suffer from this disorder. But, the person with OCD is NOT crazy, and, more often than not, he or she is quite aware that these obsessive thoughts and the consequent compulsions are NOT normal. It is this self-awareness that makes OCD all the more painful and demoralizing. Because we don't want to be perceived as "crazy" by others, people with OCD can become quite adept at hiding the symptoms in certain social settings or for limited periods of time. There may be a storm going on behind that serene facade, but at least no one will know this horrible secret or think the person is "crazy".
I won't go on in much more detail here about OCD in general; there are other wonderful websites out there that do an exemplary job and I see no need to just repeat the same information. Do a search on OCD or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and you will find the web is a wealth of information right at your fingertips. I highly recommend www.ocfoundation.org. Also included at that site is a "test" you can take to see if you indeed to have OCD. For more information on my own experiences with OCD, go to My Story, here at this site.
But for roughly 2-4% of the population, these unsettling thoughts and then the subsequent checking behaviors race out of control and consume more and more of the person's time and energy. OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, has been described as a mental "hiccup", and the uneasy feeling of not having locked the door--and the possible subsequent consequences-- becomes an all-consuming fear. In an attempt to appease the panic, the sufferer checks, and rechecks, and then checks again to be sure the door is locked, but, because of some sort of mental glitch, the message doesn't get through to that part of the brain where the panic originates; therefore, no amount of checking is enough, and because the panic and fear is still there, the person continues to frantically check--in some cases for hours and hours at a time. OCD is also referred to the "Doubting Disease" for this very reason.
I am using "checking" here as an example, but actually this is just one of several different manifestations of OCD that can vary from person to person. I personally suffered mostly with the fear of contamination from germs, dirt, chemicals, etc., (which is called an OBSESSION), and my response to that fear was to try to eliminate the awful panic it created by washing my hands (until they actually bled at one point of time in my life), taking showers, and performing complex cleaning rituals. (These are called COMPULSIONS--acts that you feel MUST be done to avoid unimaginable consequences.) I also had some of the classic "checking" compulsions because of the fear of having not locked my door upon leaving the house or car, therefore making it possible for someone to invade and contaminate "MY space" in my absence.
Obsessions are thoughts, images, or impulses that occur over and over again and feel out of your control. They are disturbing and intrusive, and quite unwelcome by the sufferer. Common obsessions include the fear of germs, dirt, etc., imagining having harmed someone, imagining losing control of aggressive urges, intrusive sexual thoughts or urges, and a need to have things "just so". Compulsions are acts performed, often over and over and over again, in an attempt to appease or eliminate the acute negative feelings evoked by the obsessions. Unlike compulsive eating, drinking, or gambling, OCD compulsions are not pleasurable-- in fact, just the opposite is true; they can be quite torturous. The OCD sufferer does these acts, not because he WANTS to or because they give him pleasure, but because he feels he MUST--he HAS to perform them--to obtain some degree of relief from the discomfort caused by the obsession and to avoid the possible dire consequences that seem to lurk just beyond the horizon. Common compulsions include: Washing, Repeating, Checking, Touching, Counting, Ordering/arranging, and Hoarding or saving.
This all sounds crazy, doesn't it? It does even to me, and I suffer from this disorder. But, the person with OCD is NOT crazy, and, more often than not, he or she is quite aware that these obsessive thoughts and the consequent compulsions are NOT normal. It is this self-awareness that makes OCD all the more painful and demoralizing. Because we don't want to be perceived as "crazy" by others, people with OCD can become quite adept at hiding the symptoms in certain social settings or for limited periods of time. There may be a storm going on behind that serene facade, but at least no one will know this horrible secret or think the person is "crazy".
I won't go on in much more detail here about OCD in general; there are other wonderful websites out there that do an exemplary job and I see no need to just repeat the same information. Do a search on OCD or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and you will find the web is a wealth of information right at your fingertips. I highly recommend www.ocfoundation.org. Also included at that site is a "test" you can take to see if you indeed to have OCD. For more information on my own experiences with OCD, go to My Story, here at this site.