Social media often get those hashtags posts about OCD and they, in fact, don't help. They don't educate and people get the wrong impression of what OCD is. It's not the twitter or Instagram version people post in hashtags. It's tremendously far away from that. Impeccably clean, organized closet shelf hashtags are tongue in cheek joke compared to real OCD "hashtag" saying"I just killed a person. I must go out and check it." And they strongly believe that they killed the person! See? It's different. So much different.
So OSD is not a joke. It's a mental disorder. Thus, next time you post a hashtag "I'm soooo OCD" bear in mind that you are hurting and making a joke of a person suffering from it. Your unequally cut slices of pizza are something you don't really pay attention to. People with OCD lose at least half an hour to make that pizza symmetric. So, they just lost 30 minutes of their precious life. And each day they spend hours on these rituals. Sometimes they lost their job too. Voluntarily- to be in a home prison so that they can get control of every dust particle in it or involuntarily- because their employers are not educated enough on their illness.
Ever heard of someone losing their job because always getting late? Sure. It stands for a reason. But losing one's job because getting late due to spending 2 hours on folding&unfolding clothes, checking if the doors are closed if the iron is off if all the germs in the wallet are exterminated and so on. Well, that's an OCD being fired.
SO, there is a difference. As with all mental disorders, it's not a choice. It's a mental disorder. The brain disorder. The life disorder. The identity disorder.
It's enormously irritating to a person suffering from OCD. It drives them insane. It's more than they can take. But it also disturbs those around them. That's why in most cases they are hiding their condition. They don't want to impose pain on the others or be seen as lunatics. The hiding makes them more frustrated and guilty of the state they, unfortunately, got stuck in.
The anxious urge-obsessive thoughts are indefatigable and they never ever got tired. They made a person performs endless rituals to "get rid of" these thoughts. But the relief the person gets from performing these rituals is so short lived and doesn't hush the thoughts actually. It breeds them. So, another distracting thought occurs, another distracting ritual is to be followed.
There is no breakpoint because if you "win" the next point (perform a ritual) you will never win the game ( get rid of the obsessive thoughts)
Just like playing tennis with world N0 1. And you're a golfer. No breakpoints at all.
OCD Symptoms overlap with OCD types.
Common OCD obsessive thoughts
Common OCD compulsive behaviours
The exact triggering mechanism is still unknown, but OCD occurrence might be a combination of:
Neurological factors
Genetic factors
Autoimmune factors
Environmental factors
COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (CBT)
CBT Exposure and response prevention technique: The good news about OCD rituals is that they are treated more than successfully with CBT Exposure and response prevention technique (ERP). Research undoubtedly proved that it's the most effective form of treatment.
The patients are first exposed to anxiety and compulsion triggering situations. Then they are not allowed to act on that compulsion.
The results show the ground-breaking realization that anxiety lessens when the compulsion is not carried out. Over time and practice, the compulsion cycles reduce significantly or are almost eliminated.
CBT Habit reversal training: It makes a patient completely aware of what triggers their OCD behaviour. Thus the patient will recognize the earliest sign of OCD behaviour before it actually takes place. Also, they are able to identify all the situations during which that behaviour occurs.
Then the patient learns to the develop a competing response- to successfully replace their compulsions with more acceptable behaviour.
To ensure that old OCD patterns will not come back patient is encouraged to make a list of problems they encounter in daily life because of OCD rituals. This accomplished, they exercise new skills- replacement behaviour in all spheres of their lives.
CBT self-guided therapy: It enables and motivates patients to become their own therapist with the previous step by step guidance provided by their therapists.
MEDICATION
Based on a premise that serotonin (the “happy” chemical) imbalance is one of the OCD causes the most prescribed antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). They alleviate some obsessive/compulsive thoughts and depression.
For OCD tics most commonly prescribed medications are drugs that block dopamine (“pleasure & pain” chemical). The drugs are the same as those treating high blood pressure or seizures.
But medications are not the answer. Their crucial role is to increase chances of affected with OCD participate CBT. So SSRIs work most effectively when taken concurrently with CBT.
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