OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a very common mental health condition ‘where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours.‘ (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/)

OCD can occur in Men and Females of all ages. OCD can really disrupt your life, especially if you have a severe case of it.

The symptoms of OCD on the NHS website are :

• usually experience frequent obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours.An obsession is an unwanted and unpleasant thought, image or urge that repeatedly enters your mind, causing feelings of anxiety, disgust or unease.

• A compulsion is a repetitive behaviour or mental act that you feel you need to do to temporarily relieve the unpleasant feelings brought on by the obsessive thought. 

An example of this could be touching a door handle 4 times to make sure its locked.

I personally have a mild case of OCD compared to some people, although sometimes it becomes very stressful and overwhelming. I have found that sometimes I obsess in my mind over something for example cleaning my room, I will overthink it to the point I have sat on my bed for half an hour thinking about each step of how I should clean my room and then I have to do it otherwise I will continue to sit there and think it through another 100 times. It becomes tiring as I have it with a lot of things I do, I wouldn’t say its me obsessing over cleaning, but rather the action of doing it and how I will do it correctly so that it will feel right. I have sometimes found myself obsessing over how I did my hair or my makeup, and sitting in front of the mirror for an hour and a half going through and talking to myself about the steps I did to make it look how it does, so that I can do it again exactly the same, but I will repeat it over and over to myself, in a sort of routine. Another example, is going into the fridge to check the sell by dates on food, and once I’ve looked once, I find myself walking around the room then coming back to do it again and again maybe 4-5 times, just to check, as I feel uneasy if I don’t and in my head I’m not sure what will happen if I don’t do it again. I don’t seem to have a problem with mess like some people with OCD, but I do just get obsessive thoughts about an action of doing something, which gives me anxiety if I then can’t do it. I think I dislike being out of control, and this is when my obsessive thoughts and overthinking will begin. I find it hard to cope with most of the time. I think it gets worse when I am stressed about something or doing something and I get so anxious and uneasy, that the thoughts become obsessive and I can only break out of them once I have repeatedly told myself enough times how I will do it, and then usually I have to do the action if telling myself isn’t enough to make me feel calmer. It is generally quite hard to explain exactly what happens within my head, as I don’t exactly understand it myself. I can go some days without it happening as noticeably, and some days I will just obsess over one thing and be thinking about it all day until I get distracted. I don’t get it as much or as strongly when I’m with other people; I may get thoughts but they’ll go quiet as I get distracted, I usually get it badly when I am on my own as I get so involved with the thoughts and have no way to switch them off or change my thought process.

If you think you or someone you know has OCD get in contact with your GP

‘ they’ll ask about your symptoms and can refer you to a local psychological therapies service if necessary’ (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/)

OCD isn’t something that usually goes without some sort of treatment. Therapy is always helpful, and they may prescribe you ‘a type of antidepressant medicine called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) which can help by altering the balance of chemicals in your brain’ (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/)

From experience living with OCD is hard, and in my case its not as severe as some people, so finding someone to talk to about it, or get support from is important.

‘Based on current estimates for the UK population, there are around three quarters of a million people living with OCD at any one time. What we know about OCD is that the condition affects as many as 12 in every 1,000 people (1.2% of the population) from young children to adults, regardless of gender, social or cultural background.’ (https://www.ocduk.org/ocd/how-common-is-ocd/)