Mastodon

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

O - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder #AtoZ #MentalHealthAwareness

Obsessions are thoughts, images or impulses that occur over and over again and feel outside of the person’s control. Compulsions are the second part of obsessive compulsive disorder. These are repetitive behaviors or thoughts that a person uses with the intention of neutralizing, counteracting, or making their obsessions go away.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder that affects people of all ages and walks of life, and occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions

Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that trigger intensely distressing feelings. Compulsions are behaviors an individual engages in to attempt to get rid of the obsessions and/or decrease his or her distress.




Obsessions are typically accompanied by intense and uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disgust, doubt, or a feeling that things have to be done in a way that is “just right.” In the context of OCD, obsessions are time consuming and get in the way of important activities the person values. This last part is extremely important to keep in mind as it, in part, determines whether someone has OCD — a psychological disorder — rather than an obsessive personality trait.  

Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually includes both obsessions and compulsions. But it's also possible to have only obsession symptoms or only compulsion symptoms.

A few common obsessions are:

·         Contamination
Ø  Germs/disease (examples: herpes, HIV)
Ø  Environmental contaminants (examples: asbestos, radiation)
Ø  Dirt

·         Losing Control
Ø  Fear of acting on an impulse to harm oneself
Ø  Fear of blurting out obscenities or insults
Ø  Fear of stealing things (Kleptomania)

·         Obsessions Related to Perfectionism
Ø  Concern about evenness or exactness
Ø  Inability to decide whether to keep or to discard things
Ø  Fear of losing things
·         Unwanted Sexual Thoughts
·         Religious Obsessions (Scrupulosity)
·         Other Obsessions
Ø  Concern with getting a physical illness or disease (not by contamination, e.g. cancer)
Ø  Superstitious ideas about lucky/unlucky numbers certain colors

Common compulsions include:
Ø  Washing and cleaning everything or certain things
Ø  Checking things again and again
Ø  Mental compulsions
Ø  Repeating




A diagnosis of OCD requires the presence of obsession and/or compulsions that are time-consuming (more than one hour a day), cause major distress, and impair work, social or other important function.

Some individuals with OCD also have a tic disorder. Motor tics are sudden, brief, repetitive movements, such as eye blinking and other eye movements, facial grimacing, shoulder shrugging, and head or shoulder jerking. Common vocal tics include repetitive throat-clearing, sniffing, or grunting sounds.

OCD is typically treated with medication, psychotherapy or a combination of the two.
There's no sure way to prevent obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, getting treatment as soon as possible may help prevent OCD from worsening and disrupting activities and your daily routine.


DISCLAIMER: All the information being provided her has been sourced from the internet and books and some also via personal experiences. It has no medical authentication per se so suggestions if followed must be done in consultation with a trained mental health professional.

References:




This post is a part of April Blogging from A To Z Challenge
You can find all my posts here.



17 comments:

  1. A really informative post! A lot of people label their need to just put things in the right place as having OCD which may not actually be true and which shouldn't be done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have some mild OCD things, but I am able to keep them from really interfering in my life. People don't even know the things I do unless I admit them.

    I cannot climb a set of stairs until I know how many steps there are. I count my steps but always start over at 8. On stairs, the last step has to land on the number 8. So, I have to know how many steps there are to be able to start at the right number to end it correctly.

    I break every set of numbers I see down to their prime numbers. I've had times I lost track of conversations because I am too busy doing math in my head to keep track of what is being said.

    I must complete any sequence that I start (finger tapping, arm waving, etc. - doesn't make sense, I know). Once started, it must be completed before I can concentrate on something else. It generally only takes a few seconds, but it must be done.

    I have many more and have no idea where these things came from.

    I am at Transformed Nonconformist. I usually write humor pieces, but I am getting serious this month. I'm writing about people who have deeply impacted my life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Brett for sharing your personal experience

      Delete
  3. I do compulsive checking due to anxiety, and it bothers me even though it has ab upside (I have never lost my keys or any other important thing). A lot of people throw OCD around nowadays as a synonym for being a cleanly person, which is wrong...

    The Multicolored Diary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it mustn't interfere with your daily life

      Delete
  4. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in most commonly we see in fascination for cleaning and cleanliness. Though many other variants are possible. Monica's character in Friends had a kind of OCD for organisation and neatness. Though not dangerous beyond irritation at mild level, I have not seen and do not know what happens in a serious case when a person is not under medication.

    ReplyDelete
  5. An informative post! you explained it well

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have heard so many people use this term very loosely when it is a serious disorder. Thank you for sharing all the information, Pooja.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Rachna that is true for many mental health terms

      Delete
  7. Very detailed post about OCD. You also covered the common OCD. Nice post.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the detailed post on the disorder Pooja. A friends mother washer her hands 100 times a day and washed dal and vegetables with surf..But sad she has never been treated,

    ReplyDelete
  9. I for sure have the OCD for not being able to decide whether to keep something or discard it. Thank you for these insights regarding OCD.

    ReplyDelete

Keywords

2019 answers anxiety apathy April Blogging challenge B-A-R barathon birthday blog Blogarhythm blogathon Book Review books BOY breasts brothers Buddha bullying cartoons chandigarh child childhood children cities colour compassion contest cosmos culture dad daughter de death death loneliness alone December delhi depression desire devi discrimination disorder diwali domestic violence dreams emily emotional abuse eyes facebook fairytale family fear feminism festival film fire first flash fiction fog freedom freeze frenemy friends GADGETS games gender gender ratio girls god grandfather grandmother grief HAIKU Hamlet happy heart hills hindi home hope husband independence day indiblogger internet jagjit singh kashmir kerouac kids lessons life life lessons light loneliness lonely longing loss love lover marriage me memories memories men menstruation mental health mind miss mom mom dad mother mother's day motherhood mythology nest new year nobody nostalgia pain pakistan panjab university papa paradoxes patriarchy periods poem poet poetry priyamvada questions random thoughts rape relationships religion remember rickshaw ritual Rumi Ruskin Bond sad sex Sexism sexual harassment sexual harrasment shimla short story silence social media soul Stream of consciousness sufi suicide summers taboo time toddlers tradition tragedy twitter valentine violence voice war winter woman women women's day Womensweb words. thoughts words.thoughts worry worship writer writing yatra yeats zen zen. बेटी माँ

COMPANIONS CALLED BOOKS

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Catcher in the Rye
Animal Farm
The Alchemist
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Romeo and Juliet
Frankenstein
The Odyssey
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Count of Monte Cristo
Eat, Pray, Love
Lolita
The Da Vinci Code
The Kite Runner
The Silence of the Lambs
The Diary of a Young Girl
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Notebook
Gone With the Wind
}

The Human Bean Cafe, Ontario

The Human Bean Cafe, Ontario
my work on display there !!!!!