Obsessive-compulsive disorder (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), also known as OCD is a disorder that arises due to anxiety when a person becomes obsessed with certain aspects that he considers to be dangerous, threatening, embarrassing, or punishing. Someone who has OCD will usually affect the atmosphere at home, routine activities, and the comfort of daily life. You can learn how to deal with family members with OCD by recognizing the symptoms, engaging in supportive interactions, and taking care of yourself.
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Part 1 of 4: Living Everyday Life with Family Members Who Have OCD
Step 1. Avoid triggers for OCD behavior
Family members with OCD can greatly affect the atmosphere in the home and the schedule of daily activities. You need to identify certain behaviors that relieve their anxiety but trigger OCD behavior. Other family members tend to support or allow this behavior to continue. This kind of treatment actually prolongs the cycle of fear, obsession, anxiety, and compulsive behavior of people with OCD.
- Research shows that OCD symptoms will get worse if you give in when he asks you to follow his rituals or change your routine.
- Some of the rituals you should avoid include: answering his repeated questions, helping him calm his fears, letting him adjust his seat while eating, or if he asks others to do certain things several times before serving food. This behavior is usually left alone because it seems harmless.
- However, if this omission has been going on for a long time, it can be very problematic to abruptly stop engagement and support. Inform him beforehand that you will reduce his involvement in the ritual, then determine how many times a day you can help him. After that, reduce again little by little until you are no longer involved.
- Try keeping an observation journal to record if this behavior occurs or worsens. These notes are more helpful if the OCD sufferer is a young child.
Step 2. Maintain your regular schedule
Try to keep you and the people around him able to live life as usual, even though this will stress him out and not giving in is not an easy thing. Make an agreement with other family members so that this problem does not change the routine and schedule of daily activities. Make sure he knows that you are willing to help him and understand his situation, but that you don't want to support his behavior.
Step 3. Ask him to limit his OCD behavior to certain areas of the house
If he wants to perform the ritual, suggest that he choose a specific room. Keep the family room free of OCD behavior. For example, if he wants to check if the windows are locked, ask him to check his bedroom or bathroom window, not the living room or kitchen window.
Step 4. Help distract her
If you notice compulsive behavior, try engaging in distracting activities together, such as walking or listening to music.
Step 5. Don't label or blame someone for having OCD
Don't label, blame, or criticize a loved one for having OCD or if their behavior is very upsetting and burdening you. This method is not beneficial for your relationship or for his health.
Step 6. Create a supportive environment
Regardless of how you feel about your OCD behavior, try to be supportive. Try asking about her fears, obsessions, and compulsive behavior. Also ask what you can do to help reduce this annoyance (not including following the ritual). Calmly explain that his compulsive behavior is a symptom of OCD and tell him that you don't want to do what he wants. Giving gentle warnings is the help he needs to contain his current compulsive behavior. This warning can help him if he wants to behave OCD again.
This is very different from fulfilling the wishes of people with OCD. Being supportive doesn't mean condoning obsessive-compulsive behavior. However, this means providing support so that he can maintain his behavior and hug him, if needed
Step 7. Involve family members with OCD in making decisions
A person with OCD should be involved in deciding how to deal with the problem, especially children. For example, talk about how your child would like to tell the teacher about their OCD problem.
Step 8. Celebrate every little progress
Overcoming OCD disorders is not easy. Congratulate him if he manages to make small progress. Even though it seems very trivial, for example he no longer repeatedly checks the lights before going to bed, he is better.
Step 9. Learn how to reduce stress in the family
Often, family members engage in OCD rituals because they want to reduce tension or avoid fighting. Try to relieve stress by inviting family members to relax by practicing yoga, meditating to calm the mind, or breathing deeply. Encourage them to exercise, adopt a healthy diet, and get enough sleep to reduce stress and anxiety.
Part 2 of 4: Taking Care of Yourself
Step 1. Find a support group
Try to find people who can support you, either in a group or by taking family therapy. People whose family members have mental health problems can provide support so you can work through your frustrations and better understand OCD.
Try searching the internet or your local mental health clinic about support groups for families dealing with OCD. If you live outside Indonesia, try to find information about support groups on the International OCD Foundation website
Step 2. Consider whether there is a need for family therapy
By attending therapy, you and your family will be greatly helped because the therapist can teach you how to deal with family members who experience OCD and make plans to restore balance in the family.
- Therapy for families usually begins by observing the family's condition and evaluating relationships within the family to find out the behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that contribute to the problem. For people with OCD, the therapist will usually find out which family members can help reduce anxiety and who can't. In addition, the therapist also needs to know when OCD sufferers find it most difficult to carry out daily activities and why, as well as other family members.
- The therapist can also provide advice on how you should behave to avoid triggering rituals and what you should do to deal with people with OCD.
Step 3. Take time to be alone
Try to find time to be alone without other family members so that you can relax. Sometimes, worrying about the condition of a troubled family member can make you feel as if you have OCD, too. Try to find time to be alone to enjoy relaxation and calm your mind. That way, you'll be better prepared to deal with stressors when you have to re-face the anxiety and disruptive behavior.
Take your friends out together once a week so you don't stay with them. Or, find a place to be alone in the house that provides a sense of comfort. Head into your room to read a book or watch your favorite TV show when he's not home
Step 4. Do activities that you enjoy
Don't get tied up because you keep accompanying him until you forget to do what you love. In any relationship, you should be able to do the activities you enjoy alone. Especially if you have to accompany someone with OCD, try to find activities that provide calm.
Step 5. Remind yourself that what you are feeling is normal
Recognize that it's perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed, angry, anxious, or confused about this issue. This condition is usually difficult to deal with, in fact it often causes confusion and frustration for anyone involved in it. Try to avoid the frustration you're experiencing, not the person you need to work with. While his behavior and anxieties can often irritate and distress you, remember that he's not just an OCD sufferer. Try to see the advantages and disadvantages. Try to be aware of this to prevent conflict or hatred from arising.
Part 3 of 4: Suggesting Therapy
Step 1. Suggest that family members with OCD consult a doctor for a diagnosis
Once there is an official diagnosis, he can overcome the disorder and begin treatment. Take him to see a doctor who will perform a physical examination, laboratory, and psychological evaluation. A person who has an obsessive thought pattern or behaves compulsively does not necessarily have OCD. He can only be declared to have OCD if the thoughts and behaviors are very disturbing and if he experiences obsessions or compulsions or both. Consult immediately if the following symptoms appear:
- Obsessions manifest in thoughts or desires that never go away. Obsessions also greatly interfere with daily life and cause severe stress.
- Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or thoughts. Compulsive behavior, for example, repeatedly washing hands or counting because someone feels they have to obey the rules that he made himself. A person behaves compulsively to relieve anxiety or because he wants to prevent certain things from happening. In reality, compulsions are irrational actions and cannot reduce or prevent anxiety.
- The obsessions and compulsions usually last more than an hour per day or appear in the form of distractions while performing daily activities.
Step 2. Suggest that family members with OCD see a therapist
The problem of OCD is quite difficult to overcome and usually must be treated by a health professional through therapy and medication. Try to get him to see a therapist for help. One method of therapy that is very helpful in overcoming OCD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Therapists usually use this method to help a person form his or her perception of risk and deal with the reality that frightens him.
- CBT can help people with OCD recognize how they perceive the risks they are obsessed with. Thus he can form a more realistic perception of his fear. In addition, CBT can also help a person understand how he interprets his thoughts because anxiety will arise if a person relies too much on his thoughts and misinterprets them.
- CBT has been successful in helping 75% of clients with OCD.
Step 3. Try exposure therapy and response prevention
One method of CBT is to reduce ritual behavior and form new behaviors when OCD sufferers face frightening images, thoughts, or situations. This method is called Exposure Response Prevention.
This therapy is done by exposing a person to things that make him fear or obsession while trying to prevent the emergence of compulsive behavior. During this process, a person will learn to deal with and control his anxiety until he is no longer affected
Step 4. Suggest that he get treatment
Drugs that are usually given to treat OCD are antidepressants such as SSRIs which will increase the serotonin hormone in the brain to reduce anxiety.
Part 4 of 4: Recognizing Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Step 1. Recognize the symptoms of OCD
OCD disorder manifests in thoughts that direct a person's behavior. If you suspect someone has OCD, watch for these signs:
- Spending a lot of time alone for no apparent reason (in the bathroom, dressing up, doing homework, etc.)
- Doing the same activity over and over (repetitive behavior)
- Constantly asking self-assessed questions; want to be soothed excessively
- Difficult to complete easy tasks
- Often late
- Worrying too much by taking care of small things and details
- Shows extreme and exaggerated emotional reactions over small things
- Having trouble sleeping
- Finishing work late at night
- Significant changes in diet
- Easily annoyed and difficult to make decisions
Step 2. Know what obsession means
Obsessions can be fear of contamination, fear of being attacked by others, fear of being punished by God or spiritual leaders for imagining forbidden things such as sexual imagination or thoughts that conflict with their beliefs. Fear will lead to OCD. Although the risk is small, people with OCD are still very afraid.
This fear will cause anxiety so that it appears compulsive behavior that is used by OCD sufferers to relieve or control the anxiety that he feels because of his obsession
Step 3. Know what compulsions mean
Compulsions usually appear in certain behaviors, such as saying certain prayers several times, checking the stove repeatedly, or several times making sure the door is locked.
Step 4. Know the different forms of OCD
There are people who experience OCD disorders so badly that they have to wash their hands dozens of times before leaving the bathroom or dozens of times turning off and turning on the lights before going to bed. In fact, OCD is also experienced by people who:
- Washing repeatedly for fear of contamination and is usually done by washing hands frequently.
- Checking repeatedly (whether the stove is off, the door is locked, etc.) for associating certain objects with evil or danger.
- Feeling doubtful or guilty so that they are afraid of experiencing terrible events or even fear of being punished.
- An obsession with order and symmetry is usually associated with superstitions about numbers, colors, or planning.
- Hoarding things because if they are thrown away, they are afraid that something bad will happen, for example starting from piling up trash to obsolete receipts.
