Find a therapist near you

City or Zip Code:

Powered by: Psychology Today

Advertisement

Mental Health

A Hard Habit to Break: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

By Christine Haran

While many of us may find ourselves checking and rechecking the alarm clock the night before an early morning flight or job interview, the lives of people living with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are dominated by such repetitive behaviors, as well as by obsessive, unwanted thoughts.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder that affects approximately 3.3 million American adults. Below, Gerald Nestadt, MD, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, discusses the symptoms of OCD and how treatment can alleviate the need to carry out unnecessary rituals and help free someone of their obsessive thoughts.

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is the presence of either an obsession or a compulsion that individuals may have that ultimately interferes with their life, either by taking up too much time or impairing their ability to function adequately.

An obsession is an unwanted thought that pops into the mind that one wants to dispel but cannot do so with any ease. A compulsion is the same thing, except that it is a behavior that one does that one would prefer not doing but cannot prevent oneself from doing.

What are some examples of obsessions and compulsions?
An example of an obsession may be a young mother who has the thought that she's going to stab her young child. She has no desire to do so and is disturbed by the thought but cannot get it out of her mind. As a consequence, she might avoid knives, for instance, and sometimes even avoid her young child. Another example would be the fear that by touching something one will be contaminated by germs. Therefore, they will avoid touching anything, even though they recognize that it's irrational.

Examples of compulsions include checking your stove or not being able to leave anywhere without unplugging all sorts of items. We all may do that for safety, but the individual with the compulsion will need to go back and check several times even when they recall they have pulled out a plug or switched off a light. Other compulsions involve counting in one's head for no apparent reason, say in multiples of three; the need to wash one's hands after touching something considered contaminated; ordering and arranging things or making sure that if you touch something on the left side, you touch it on the right side.

Compulsions may make people feel foolish, or worse, out of control or terrified that something bad is about to happen if they don't perform the ritual. Although compulsions can feel like the only way to get relief from obsessive thoughts, they only escalate the problem, making the thoughts recur and triggering doubts that the compulsion may not have been done correctly.

Page 1 of 3 Next Page >>