this is going to end up being a pretty simple post, as i'm not a doctor, and im not a therapist, i'm just an OCD sufferer who has hours and hours of internet research under her sleeve. not that that counts for anything! anyways, if you're reading my blog, and you don't suffer from any type of anxiety/OCD, all these terms and thoughts are probably foreign to you. so i'll try to explain it!
obsessive compulsive disorder is a mental disorder in which the sufferer experiences unwanted, intrusive thoughts, which vary greatly in their content, which are normally existent with compulsions, which the sufferer carries out in order to allieviate and hopefully suppress the intrusive thoughts, because they're super distressing.
ocd intrusive thought topics can be (and are not limited to):
-violent thoughts (fear of hurting someone else/oneself, fear of suicide/homicide, intrusive images about hurting oneself or others, etc) people with violent intrusive thoughts are proven to be nonviolent, and they NEVER act upon these thoughts. that's right, there's absolutely no record of anyone with intrusive thoughts actually acting upon them. they're just anxiety based thoughts. this type of OCD is sometimes referred to as "Harm OCD" or "HOCD"
-sexual thoughts (fear of becoming gay, fear of being a paedophile, etc) for people who suffer from sexual thoughts, they will experience unwanted images and thoughts about things that they find immoral, such as a change in their sexuality. i wouldn't say that i have that much knowledge of this category of intrusive thoughts, as i only briefly had them in 6th grade, but this type of OCD is commonly referred to as "Homosexual OCD" or "HOCD.
-immoral thoughts (thoughts of cursing at God/another religious figure, etc) similarly to the last topic, i don't know much about these types of thoughts, but i do know that they're extremely common, and very disturbing to the suffer.
-symmetry (everything has to be in its place, the need for symmetry, etc) this is also a very common form of OCD, and it is also one of the forms that has the greatest chance of there being compulsions. i don't know much about this topic, just like the last two, but i have read a lot about it.
-numbers (certain numbers need to be avoided, etc) with this type of OCD, the sufferer believes that they must avoid a certain number or set of numbers (for example, "13" or odd numbers) because if they don't, something bad will happen. i also don't know much about this type of OCD- wow I must sound stupid by now- but it is very common.
compulsions can include and are not limited to:
-checking (repeatedly making sure everything is unplugged, making sure everything is in your backpack, making sure all the lights are off, etc)
-mental checking (repeatedly checking on one's mental status, hypervigilance, paying extra attention to every thought had, asking oneself if they are capable of certain events, etc)
-tapping
-having to do things a certain amount of times until it feels "just right"
-obsessive hand washing
-perfectionism (spending unusual amounts of time on assignments, erasing things until they look perfect, etc)
-avoiding numbers
-repeatedly performing tasks (such as showering and hand washing) over and over again until they feel right
-having to do everything symmetrically
and wow there's so many more, im just having trouble racking my brain for them considering its 1 am.
this is so important, and this really helped me begin to conquer my OCD: thought suppression does!!! not!! work!!! let the thoughts come, hey, even encourage them! they're just thoughts, and you have all power over them- they can't make you do anything you want to do, as it's just you being your anxious self. you're not crazy, and you're not going to go crazy. once you get this down, you can start to self manage your OCD- learn to coexist with the thoughts instead of ruminating over them!
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