Obsessive compulsive disorder, or in English called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by an unreasonable fear or obsession that makes a person exhibit compulsive behaviors to reduce anxiety. The degree of OCD varies from mild to severe and usually OCD is also accompanied by various other mental health problems. Coping with OCD can be difficult, especially because the sufferer does not seek medical help. Psychiatrists use several therapies and medications to treat people with OCD. People with OCD can also keep a journal, join support groups, and use relaxation techniques to help with this disorder. If you think you have OCD, you should seek professional help from a mental health professional. Keep reading this article to learn how to deal with obsessive compulsive disorder.
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Method 1 of 3: Getting Help for OCD
Step 1. Get a professional diagnosis
Even if you suspect you have OCD, don't try to diagnose it yourself. Mental diagnosis can be very complicated and must be done by a mental health professional to help the patient.
- If you are unable to deal with problems related to your obsessions or compulsions on your own, consider seeing a psychologist or mental health professional for diagnosis and treatment.
- Ask your doctor for advice if you don't know how to start.
Step 2. Consider psychotherapy
Psychotherapy for OCD involves consulting a therapist about obsessions, anxiety, and compulsions at regular appointments. While it won't cure OCD, psychotherapy can be an effective way to manage OCD symptoms and make them less noticeable; therapy may be able to cure about 10% of cases of OCD, but can also increase the symptoms of OCD in 50-80% of patients. Therapists and counselors use several different techniques when treating OCD patients.
- Some therapists use exposure therapy in which the patient is gradually exposed to conditions that cause anxiety in the patient, such as not washing hands intentionally after touching a doorknob. The therapist will do this until the patient's anxiety about the situation begins to subside.
- Some therapists use imaginal exposure, which uses short narratives to stimulate situations that cause anxiety in the patient. The goal of this therapy is to make the patient learn to deal with anxiety about a situation and dull the patient's sensitivity to anxiety triggers.
Step 3. Consider taking prescribed medication
There are several medications that have been shown to help relieve the short-term obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors associated with OCD. Keep in mind that these medications treat the symptoms of OCD without treating the disorder, so it's best to combine medication therapy with consulting therapy to treat OCD rather than just taking medication. Some of these drugs include:
- Clomipramine (Anafranil)
- Fluvoxamine (Luvox CR)
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Paroxetine (Paxil, Pexeva)
- Sertraline (Zoloft)
Step 4. Build a strong support system to help deal with OCD
Although many think of OCD as a problem caused by a person's brain dysfunction, it's important to remember that attacks of OCD are often caused by traumatic or stressful life events. Going through experiences such as the death of a loved one, the loss of an important job, or being diagnosed with a terminal illness can leave a person stressed and anxious. For some people, this stress and anxiety can lead to a desire to control certain aspects of their lives that seem unimportant to others.
- Try to build a social support system that will honor your past experiences.
- Surround yourself with supportive people. Feeling supported by a group of people is important for maintaining general mental health.
- Find ways to spend time with loved ones. If you don't feel supported enough by the people you come into contact with, consider visiting an OCD support group in your area. These meetings are usually free and can be a good way to start talking about your annoyance with other people who support you and are familiar with what you're dealing with.
Method 2 of 3: Controlling OCD and Staying Positive
Step 1. Address the trigger for this annoyance
Force yourself to start paying attention to situations that you are obsessed with. Little tricks can help you feel more in control of these situations so you can deal with patterned stress.
- For example, if you're constantly worrying about whether or not you've turned off the stove, imagine turning off the stove every time you worry about it. Imagining this will help you remember that you did turn off the stove.
- If imagining something isn't working, try making a note by the stove and recording your actions each time you turn it off.
Step 2. Keep a journal to write about your feelings
Journaling is a great way to deal with emotions and learn about yourself. Take some time each day to write down all the anxious and stressful experiences you have had. Writing down your obsessive thoughts and analyzing them can be a good way to control them. Journaling also connects your anxiety to other ideas you have or behaviors you exhibit. Building self-awareness like this can be a good way to learn what types of situations are contributing to your OCD.
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Try to describe your obsessive thoughts in one column, then label and rate your emotions in another column. In the third column, you can even describe the interpretation of your obsessive thoughts that followed the emotion.
- For example, imagine you have obsessive thoughts like, “This pen has a lot of germs from strangers. I can catch a dangerous disease and pass it on to my children so they can get sick.”
- Next, you might react to that thought by thinking, “If I don't wash my hands even though I know I can infect my children, I'm a bad and irresponsible parent. Not protecting my children from harm is like hurting them with my own hands.” Write down and discuss both thoughts in a journal.
Step 3. Remind yourself of your good qualities regularly
Believing in yourself can be an effective way to fight negative feelings. Don't put yourself down or let OCD become your identity. While it's very difficult to see yourself without OCD, remember that you have better qualities than the condition.
Make a list of the good qualities you have and read it whenever you feel down. In fact, reading one of these qualities and looking at yourself in the mirror can help boost your self-confidence
Step 4. Congratulations yourself for achieving your goals
It's important to set goals when trying to deal with this condition. Setting goals, however small, will give you the desire to put in the effort and a certain reason to celebrate. Every time you achieve something you couldn't have achieved before dealing with your OCD, praise yourself and be proud.
Step 5. Take care of yourself
When treating for OCD, it is very important to take care of yourself, your mind, and your soul. Go to the gym, nourish your body with healthy food, get enough sleep, and educate your soul by taking part in religious and other soul-soothing activities.
Step 6. Practice relaxation techniques
OCD causes feelings of stress and anxiety. Therapy and medication may reduce your negative feelings, but you should also take time to relax each day. Doing activities such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, aromatherapy, and other calming techniques will help with stress and anxiety.
Try several relaxation techniques until you find one that works for you, then add it to your daily routine
Step 7. Maintain a daily routine
Dealing with OCD can make you feel like you've abandoned your usual daily routine, but it won't help you. Maintain your daily routine and move on with life. Don't let OCD keep you from going to school, working in the office, or spending time with your family.
If you have anxieties or fears about certain activities, discuss them with a therapist and don't avoid them
Method 3 of 3: Understanding OCD
Step 1. Understand the symptoms of OCD
People with OCD will be disturbed by repetitive thoughts and desires and unwanted and uncontrollable behavior. This behavior can hinder a person's ability to do something. This behavior can be in the form of repeated hand washing, the desire to count what is in front of your eyes, or even the emergence of negative thoughts that cannot be shaken off. People with OCD will also feel a sense of insecurity and a loss of control that can't be stopped and creeps into their minds. Some of the behaviors commonly associated with OCD are:
- The need to check everything over and over again. This behavior can be like repeatedly locking the car door, turning the lights on and off several times to make sure the lights are really off, checking to see if the car doors are really locked, or constantly repeating something. People with OCD usually realize that their obsessions are unreasonable.
- Obsession with washing hands or dirt/contamination. People with OCD will wash their hands after touching anything they think is contaminated.
- Intrusive thinking. Some people with OCD will experience intrusive thoughts, which are negative thoughts and cause stress to the sufferer. These thoughts are classified into 3 categories, namely negative thoughts about violence, sexuality, and blasphemy against religion.
Step 2. Understand patterns of obsessions/stress/compulsions
People with OCD experience anxiety and stress from their triggers. That's the reason they feel compelled to do certain things. This behavior can temporarily reduce their anxiety, but the cycle will repeat itself once the relief stops. People with OCD can go through cycles of obsessions, stress, and compulsions several times a day.
- Trigger. OCD triggers can come from internal or external such as thoughts or experiences. The trigger for OCD could be from an intrusive thought in your mind or an experience of being robbed in the past.
- Interpretation. You can interpret whether the trigger is likely to occur, dangerous, or threatening. Because these triggers can turn into obsessions, a person will perceive these triggers as a real threat and are likely to occur.
- Obsession/Anxiety. If the person perceives the trigger as a real threat, it can cause anxiety severe enough that over time it can become an obsession that the intrusive thought will occur. For example, if you have intrusive thoughts that you are about to be robbed and this makes you fear and anxious, these thoughts can turn into obsessions.
- compulsions. Compulsions are routines or actions that must be taken to deal with stress caused by obsessions with OCD sufferers. Compulsions grow out of the need to be able to control some aspect of your environment to make you feel like you can control the threat of your obsession. For example, checking if the light has been off five times, saying a self-made prayer, or washing your hands repeatedly. You may find that the stress you feel from having to check your keys over and over again will be less stressful than the stress you would feel if you were robbed.
Step 3. Know the difference between obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
When people think of OCD, they think of extreme dependence on regulations. Although it can be a hallmark of OCD, this tendency will not be diagnosed as OCD unless the thoughts and behaviors are not desired by the abuser. On the other hand, this tendency could indicate OCPD, a personality disorder characterized by high standards and excessive attention to rules and discipline.
- Keep in mind that not everyone with OCD has a personality disorder, however, comorbidity between OCD and OCPD is likely.
- Because most behaviors and thoughts related to OCD are undesirable, OCD is often associated with higher levels of dysfunction than OCPD.
- For example, behaviors associated with OCD can interfere with a person's ability to be able to come to work on time, and worse, not be able to leave the house. Intrusive thoughts that are sometimes not real often arise, for example “what if I forget something important at home this morning?”. These thoughts can cause a person to feel anxious. If someone has behaved and thought like this in the past, they are most likely diagnosed with OCD, not OCPD.
Step 4. Recognize that there are many different types and degrees of OCD
In all cases of OCD, patterns will form in a person's thinking and behavior that have a negative impact on the person's daily activities. Because OCD patterns can vary widely, OCD can be considered part of a spectrum of mental disorders rather than a single mental health problem. The symptoms you experience may or may not require treatment, depending on whether these symptoms will interfere with your daily life or not.
- Ask yourself whether a pattern of thought and behavior can negatively affect your life or not. If the answer is “yes”, you should get help.
- If your OCD is mild and doesn't affect your daily life, you can get help getting rid of it. For example, mild OCD can occur when you have the urge to check if the door is locked even though you've already made sure it's a bear. Even if you don't act on the desire, this behavior can distract you from focusing on other activities.
- The line between OCD and occasional irrational cravings is not clear. You should be able to determine for yourself whether you take the desire seriously enough to require professional help.
Tips
- Make sure you take the medication prescribed by the psychiatrist as instructed. Do not miss a scheduled medication, stop, or increase your dose without consulting a psychiatrist first.
- If you suspect you have OCD, see a psychiatrist to be sure. Don't self-diagnose.
- Understand that overcoming OCD can take a long time and may be uncomfortable. However, in the long run, the results will be worth it.
- Often times, OCD treatment requires you to face what you fear to help yourself heal as well as overcome irrational obsessions. Work with a psychiatrist during the treatment process.
