Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – Misconceptions About OCD

 What Do You Think OCD Is?

Most people have heard the term ‘OCD’, but the real question is, has it been used in the right context? Many associate ‘OCD’ with traits like being neat, clean, and tidy. While these can come as a part of OCD, they’re not what defines it. OCD stands for obsessive-compulsive disorder – this is shocking for some who use the term on a regular basis, as they might not realize it is an actual anxiety disorder. 

What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Really?

Obsessive compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by distressing intrusive thoughts and the compulsions or rituals that someone may perform to reduce their anxiety around these thoughts. Intrusive thoughts can be relating to the cleanliness or tidiness of a room, but there are many kinds of intrusive thoughts that can come with obsessive-compulsive disorder, not just these. Sometimes obsessive-compulsive disorder affects people in a way that has nothing to do with this. For example, intrusive thoughts can be worrying you might accidentally harm or kill somebody, unpleasant sexual thoughts, anything that you might not necessarily WANT to think, but that just comes into your head. Intrusive thoughts are something that everyone experiences, but not everyone can just dismiss them. To some, they feel extreme guilt or worry around the intrusive thought and they have to check things, count to a certain number, wash their hands a certain number of times in order to rid themselves of the thought. This is only temporary and often the dependence on the compulsions becomes more severe over time.

What Are Compulsions?

Compulsions can be all sorts of things. One that we would be familiar with from TV shows and films would be obsessive cleaning, and checking things are in place. Other compulsions include ‘neutralizing bad thoughts’ by thinking good things to counteract the bad thought, ruminating, hand-washing and many more. One that a lot of people wouldn’t realize is a compulsion is reassurance seeking. This can come through in different ways – checking what people think of something you have said or done, or disguised in a normal conversation which is often guided by the person who needs the reassurance until they find the reassurance they need. Some may say the same things to lots of different people in the form of ‘oversharing’ to get the reassurance they need over and over again. So obsessive-compulsive disorder is not necessarily what the media portrays it as.