HAPPY OCD AWARENESS WEEK!

In honor of OCD Awareness Week from October 13-19, let’s go over the basics of OCD.

WHAT IS OCD?

OCD is a mental health disorder that causes people to experience unwanted, recurring thoughts and repetitive behaviors (AKA obsessions and compulsions). In media, OCD is sometimes portrayed as someone that is a germaphobe or a neat freak. But know that OCD is so much more than cleanliness, or perfectionism, or wanting things a certain way. It can sometimes be debilitating.

WHAT ARE OBSESSIONS AND COMPULSIONS?

OCD is comprised of two main components: Obsessions and Compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive, unwanted, repetitive thoughts, images, urges, and/or impulses. Compulsions are external or internal behaviors that are generally aimed at reducing the distress that comes from experiencing the obsession. It is especially important to remember that not all compulsions can be seen. Some compulsions are also mental or internal such as overthinking, avoiding, trying to figure out/solve, etc.
So let’s go through an example together. Let’s think about someone with OCD that is obsessed with cleanliness, germs, and getting sick. Let’s call this person Gemma. Gemma experiences the following obsessions:

-Those surfaces aren’t clean
-You need to sanitize any dirty surface you touch
-You should also probably keep track of what “dirty” things touch “clean things”
-If you don’t keep things clean you’ll get sick or get someone else sick

Gemma may do some of the following compulsions:

-Sanitizes any door knob before touching it
-Cleans surfaces multiple times
-Cleans items until it feels “just right” or “clean enough”
-Mentally keeps track and keeps a list of what is clean and dirty
-Ruminates and overthinks about germs and worries about getting sick/getting others sick for long periods of time
-Avoid places that she believes is dirty or filled with germs

THE OCD CYCLE

Another important aspect of OCD is that it exists in a cycle; therefore, like most cycles, it can be really hard to break. Let’s walk through the OCD Cycle together. The cycle starts with an obsession. This intrusive thought then causes deep distress which is usually anxiety, but can also be fear, disgust, guilt, etc. Then, in order to get reduce the distress, the compulsion comes next. The individual engages in this behavior. And this behavior provides relief, but more specifically, it provides SHORT TERM relief. And this is why the cycle is so difficult to break because to an extent, it does “feel good”. It scratches an itch that you have and gives a bit of relief. But only for a short while. And our body will start to reinforce this behavior over time. It will learn that when you feel anxious, there IS one thing that can provide some relief… the compulsion. When a toddler throws a tantrum at the store and ends up getting the toy they asked for anyway, they learn that the tantrum worked. Next time the parent says no, what will that child do? Throw the tantrum. Just like the child, we reinforce this behavior and learn over time that when we feel distressed, we must engage in the compulsion. Just like a bad habit, the more we do it, the harder it is to break.

Let’s use Gemma again to illustrate The OCD Cycle. Gemma gets stuck in the following cycle: First, she experiences an obsession about germs or getting sick. Her OCD tells her, “Woah. That table is super dirty. You need to sanitize it.” This thought causes Gemma intense distress, fear, and anxiety. To relieve this distress, she wipes the table once (the compulsion). Now, her OCD tells her “Nope. That’s still dirty. You need to do it again. In fact, do it 3 more times.” So Gemma wipes the table 3 more times. Gemma’s OCD says, “Okay. That’s just right. That’s clean”. Gemma experiences some relief that is short-term and short-lived. By engaging in the compulsion, Gemma ensures that the obsession will return. And when it does, Gemma will be tempted to engage in the compulsion again because she has learned that it relieves her anxiety. And although it lowers anxiety short-term, it keeps Gemma’s anxiety high long-term. Gemma is stuck in The OCD Cycle.

STOPPING THE OCD CYCLE

So then, how do we stop the cycle?

Because obsessions are intrusive in nature, we do not have full control over them. Instead, we have more control of our behaviors. AKA a great point to disrupt this cycle is at the compulsion stage. I think of compulsions as the gas of the OCD car. Or think of compulsions as the food that feeds the OCD monster. If we can learn to stop feeding the monster or putting gas in the car, we can break the cycle and make OCD less powerful.

If you’d like to learn more about OCD and what to do instead of compulsions, feel free to reach out to me!

OCD THERAPY WITH CZARINA DE JESUS, LMFT

-If you’d like to learn more about how I do OCD treatment, you can visit the following page: OCD THERAPY

-If you’d like to reach out to me, you can follow the directions on this page: SCHEDULE A SESSION