Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental health condition that involves obsessions, compulsions, or both. In the United States, around 2 to 3 percent of people have this condition, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Many people with OCD recognize the thoughts and beliefs fueling their compulsions as illogical or unlikely
Language matters
Using “OCD” casually to describe habits or behaviors you choose to do can minimize the seriousness of OCD, not to mention the distress experienced by people living with the condition
- OCD involves two main types of symptoms: obsessions and compulsions
- Even milder symptoms can take up at least an hour each day and significantly affect your day-to-day activities
Obsessions
Common themes include worries about germs, dirt, illness, fears of harming yourself or someone else, explicit sexual or violent thoughts, questions about your sexual desires or orientation, and worries about the health and safety of yourself or your loved ones.
- These thoughts keep coming back no matter how hard you try to suppress them.
Therapy
Medication can often help relieve symptoms, but by working with a therapist, you can also learn: tools to manage unwanted thoughts and change unhelpful patterns of behavior
- Strategies to improve relaxation and cope with emotional distress
- Therapy approaches recommended for OCD include: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy, and Mindfulness/Hypnotherapy
Compulsions
OCD behaviors include: washing your hands, objects, or body, organizing or aligning objects in a specific way, counting or repeating specific phrasings, touching something a set number of times, seeking reassurance from other, hiding objects you could use to hurt yourself or someone else, mentally going over your actions to make sure you haven’t harmed anyone else
Brain stimulation:
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): This involves delivering electrical pulses directly into areas of the brain associated with OCD, through a thin electrode.
- Relationship OCD: Frequently doubts, questions, and intrusive thoughts about your relationship
- Pure O (obsession): involves sexual, religious, or violent intrusive thoughts and obsessions but no apparent compulsions
- OCPD: This involves an extreme need for orderliness, perfection, and control, including within relationships.
Risk factors for OCD
Stress or trauma – significant stress at home, school, work, or in personal relationships can raise your chances of developing OCD or worsen existing symptoms.
- Personality – certain personality traits, including difficulty handling uncertainty, heightened feelings of responsibility, or perfectionism, may factor into OCD.
- It’s possible to have a family history of OCD along with other risk factors and still never develop the condition yourself.
Medication
A few different psychotropic medications can help reduce OCD symptoms
- Tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine (Anafranil)
- Antipsychotics like aripiprazole (Abilify) or risperidone (Risperdal), which can enhance the effects of SSRIs
- Memantine (Namenda) an NMDA receptor antagonist
- Some side effects are possible, so keep taking your medication as directed even if you don’t notice improvement immediately
