Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is a relatively common mental health issue that affect 2-3% of the population. OCD is often difficult to differentiate between simply being very tidy, very organized, or having a perfectionistic personality. While it can be a challenge to be someone who gets upset at a cluttered home, having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a more serious problem. If you think you may have OCD, o know someone with OCD, here are three strong signs that you may struggle with this issue.
1. You Have Unsettling, Intrusive Thoughts About Bad Things Happening
Intrusive thoughts are a main criteria for OCD. These are particularly alarming thoughts that are intrusive in nature-meaning, they appear out of nowhere, or they can sometimes seem like your brain is “hijacked” into imagining scary things. These thoughts revolved around bad things happening to yourself or someone you love, or even sometimes to a stranger. For example, you might be working on a project at work and all of the sudden you have a scene in your head of getting into a car accident. These thoughts, while irrational and unconnected to your present experience, feel very real and impending. These are the kind of thoughts that make you sweat. They feel really real, as if this thing is bound to happen.
2. You have an urge to do a ritual to stop this bad thing from happening
The rituals in OCD are a response to the intrusive thought. An OCD ritual is a behavior that you feel compelled to do because of the intrusive thought. You feel as if you do not complete this ritual, the bad thing will absolutely happen. Here are some common OCD rituals:
- Checking doors, locks, and switches multiple times-even if you just checked them
- Stepping on a particular area of the floor-or avoiding a certain area of the floor
- Pushing a button a certain number of times, even if it takes more time than necessary
- Saying a certain word or phrase
- Touching something a certain amount of times before you can “move on” and leave the object behind
An important thing to remember about OCD rituals is that they usually have to be “completed.” This means that if you’re interrupted for some reason, you feel the need to start over, as if it did not count to ward off the bad thing from your intrusive thought. I’ve personally worked with clients who could spend up to an hour trying to get a ritual “right” because they were interrupted.
3. You Can’t Stop Doing the Rituals-No Matter How Hard You Try
OCD is by its nature compulsive. You feel compelled to engage in the rituals and you can’t control your intrusive thoughts. It’s not a choice, it’s a mental health issue. Don’t feel shame around OCD. OCD it very treatable; usually a combination of medication and counseling can control symptoms or make them go away completely. Counseling involved identifying intrusive thoughts and rituals, and slowly building up coping tools so that you can slow down the rituals and eventually stop. If you think you may have OCD, you can call a counselor or therapist who treats OCD and get their opinion.
If you think you might have OCD, call Thrive Counseling to get an expert opinion.
For more information about how therapy for OCD helps, go to our OCD Therapy page.