Do you suffer from OCD?

Photo Courtesy of Lars Klintwall Malmqvist

It’s an ordinary day; you are going out for work. The usual scenario is you go around the house to check if every window, door or any point of entry are close. On your way out of the house, you have this unsettled feeling that the back door is open so you will return back in to check again, then you find out that it is locked. “Better be sure than sorry”, you say to yourself. But as you start your car engine, you still have this feeling that you might forget to close the window. Again, go back into the house to check the same things. Finally, you are driving your car, but a sudden thought came up, “Did I lock the main door?”  Head back home and check again. You did lock every door and window but you keep on checking and rechecking things over and over again.

If this annoying situation sounds so familiar to you, maybe you are struggling with OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder. According to psychologists and psychiatrists, OCD is an anxiety disorders that varies from one person to another.

·         Compulsive Checking

People, who suffer with this kind of OCD, repeatedly check things like doors, windows, household appliances, locks and other things. They fear of catastrophe may arise if they will not checked, rechecked, and checked again.

·         Compulsive Ordering and Symmetry Obsessions

In this kind of OCD, people have the feeling of arranging things again and again until they are satisfied that everything is properly place where it should be. They often get irritated if objects they arranged are moved or even touched. They can be considered perfectionists.

·         Compulsive Washing and Cleaning

People with this kind of OCD, constantly clean and wash themselves and their home to alleviate their worries of contamination from dirt and germs. They fear of being harmed with foreign substances.

·         Primarily Obsessional OCD (pure obsessions)

Unwanted violent and sexually inappropriate thoughts and images polluted the minds of the people with this kind of OCD. They need great efforts to control these unwanted thoughts. In order for them to counteract their anxiety, they keep on thinking repetitively such counting, praying or repeating certain words.

·         Scrupulosity

This is a religious form of OCD in which the sufferers worry much of their moral purity. They keep on praying and extremely confessing for they are afraid that they might have violated religious rules.

·         Health-related OCD

People, who are always troubled of becoming ill causing them to visit the doctors frequently and keep on checking their bodies for any signs of disease, are people who suffered from this kind of OCD.

·         Hoarding

Hoarding is a kind of OCD in which the person collects insignificant things and having a hard time of disposing them. These items are in fact worthless and considered to be junk like newspapers, soft drink cans and bottles, plastics and the like.