What is OCD?
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), is a condition, often regarded as an anxiety disorder, where individuals can experience recurring, unwanted and intrusive thoughts, images or sensations.
These are referred to as obsessions, and can come in many forms including:
Fears around harming others
A fixation on symmetry and orderliness
Intrusive sexual thoughts
Intrusive religious thoughts
Thoughts of committing an offence
Fears around contamination, germs and dirt.
whatisocd.mp4The obsessions can be upsetting and cause great distress. This leads the individual to feel they have to engage in certain behaviours, (or compulsions), to try reduce the anxiety or to stop a perceived danger. These compulsions can also come in many forms and can be time-consuming.
They can be overt behaviours such as touching things, arranging or doing tasks in a particular way or number of times, checking objects, avoiding places or situations, or excessive cleaning and hand-washing.
However, they can also be unseen acts, including rumination, mentally scanning/checking, counting, praying, or attempting to suppress thoughts.
The compulsions may directly link with the obsession e.g. – repeatedly checking the oven is switched off through fear of a fire, or they can seem unrelated.
Although these behaviours may bring temporary relief, it is only short term until the next time they have the intrusive thought or are in that feared situation.
OCD can significantly affect an individual’s quality of life, including work, and relationships.
However, our support group is there to show that you are not alone! We can face it together! See our meetings page to find out more about our meetings!
Although everyone experiences mental health difficulties in their own individual way, some disorders have overlapping symptoms with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Being diagnosed with the right disorder has incredibly important implications for treatment.
Below is a list of disorders that are often grouped with OCD or can be diagnosed alongside OCD:
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Is characterised with preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in appearance, which are unnoticeable to others. This perceived flaw is sometimes noticeable but is usually a normal variation (male baldness) or is not as prominent as the sufferer believes.
Eating Disorders
BDD and eating disorders can be confused, they are very different. Someone with an eating disorder will worry about body weight or shape which will lead to behaviours that are aimed at trying to lose or control weight, while BDD doesn’t involve these worries too much.
Depression
Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is a common but serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working.
Social Anxiety Disorder
Often associated with social anxiety and fears of being judged negatively by others. People with social phobias tend to be worried about saying or acting in an embarrassing or humiliating way.
Skin Picking Disorder
Some people do find that the act of skin – picking creates a feeling or relief due to the reduction in anxiety or the urge. Many may pick at normal blemishes such as freckles or moles. They may use fingernails, tweezers, pins or other devices.
Hoarding
People with hoarding disorder have persistent difficulty getting rid of or parting with possessions due to a perceived need to save the items. Attempts to part with possessions create considerable distress and lead to decisions to save them.
