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This article was co-written by Ran D. Anbar, MD, FAAP. Dr. Ran D. Anbar is a consultant pediatric and board certified general pediatric and pediatric pulmonologist, providing clinical hypnosis and consulting services at Center Point Medicine in La Jpla, California. and Syracuse, New York. With more than 30 years of medical practice and training, Dr. Anbar is also a professor of pediatrics and medicine and director of pediatric pulmonology at SUNY Upstate College of Medicine. Anbar holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from the University of California, San Diego and a medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He completed his residency in pediatrics and received his doctoral training in pediatric pulmonology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and is a former president and consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. .
There are 21 references cited in this article that you can view at the bottom of the page.
This article has been viewed 20,826 times.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by irrational fears or phobias that cause people to engage in compulsive behaviors to reduce or relieve their anxiety. OCD ranges from mild to severe and can be accompanied by other mental health problems. [1] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Going to the Source Treating OCD can be difficult, especially if the person doesn’t seek help. Psychiatrists use a variety of medications and methods to treat people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD patients can also do some therapies such as journaling, joining a support group, and using relaxation techniques to cope with OCD. If you think you may have OCD, you should seek professional help from a mental health professional. Read on to learn how to deal with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Steps
Finding Help to Cope with OCD
- If you are not able to deal with issues related to your obsessions or compulsions, you should consider seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist for diagnosis and treatment.
- Ask your doctor for a referral if you don’t know where to start.
- Some therapists use exposure therapy , whereby patients are gradually exposed to the conditions that cause them most anxiety, such as intentionally not washing their hands after touching a doorknob. The therapist will work with the patient in this way until the patient’s anxiety level begins to decrease. [5] X Research Sources
- Some doctors use imaginary exposure therapy, which is to use brief descriptions to simulate situations that cause the most anxiety for their clients. [6] X Source of Research The purpose of imaginary exposure therapy is to help patients learn to manage anxiety about situations and to be less sensitive to anxiety triggers.
- Clomipramine (Anafranil)
- Fluvoxamine (Luvox CR)
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Paroxetine (Paxil, Pexeva)
- Sertraline (Zpoft)
- Strive to build a supportive social system in which your past experiences are deservedly respected.
- Be around people who understand. It has been proven that feeling supported by others is an important factor in improving overall mental health.
- Find ways to spend as much time as possible with the people you care about. If you feel that the people you come in contact with are not providing adequate support, you should consider reaching out to an OCD support group in your area. [9] X Trusted Source International OCD Foundation Go to Source These meetings are often free and can be a great way to start talking about your disorder to others who know sympathetically encouraging and somehow familiar with what you are going through.
Control OCD and Stay Positive
- For example, if you are constantly worrying about whether you have turned off the oven or not, each time imagine yourself turning off the oven. Creating this fantasy will help you remember that you actually turned off the oven.
- If visualization doesn’t work, try keeping a notebook next to the oven and make notes in it every time you turn off the oven.
- Try describing your obsessive thoughts in one column, then categorize and rate your emotions in another column. [13] X Research Source In the third column, you can interpret your obsessive thoughts in terms of those feelings.
- For example, imagine you have an obsessive thought like, “This pen is full of germs from a stranger. I could get some horrible disease and pass it on to my kids and make them sick.”
- Next, you might react to that thought like, “If I knew I could pass the infection on to my child without washing my hands, I would be a terrible, irresponsible parent. If I don’t do everything in my power to protect her, it’s as bad as harming her own.” Record and discuss both thoughts in a journal.
- Make a list of all the great qualities you have and read that list each time you feel down. Even just reading one of those qualities and looking at yourself in the mirror can enhance positive feelings about yourself. [14] X Research Source
- Experiment with different relaxation techniques until you find what works best for you, then incorporate them into your daily schedule.
- If you feel anxious or afraid of certain activities, consult a therapist, but don’t avoid them.
Understanding OCD
- Check everything over and over again . This behavior could be double-checking that the car door is locked, turning the lights on and off multiple times to make sure it’s really off, or generally repeating the same action over and over. Often people with OCD know that their obsession is irrational.
- Obsession with hand washing or dirt/contamination . People with this phobia will wash their hands immediately after touching anything they consider contaminated.
- Intrusive thoughts. Some people with OCD suffer from intrusive thoughts that are inappropriate and stressful for the patient. Usually these thoughts are divided into three groups – inappropriate violent thoughts, inappropriate sexual thoughts and blasphemous religious thoughts. [19] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source
- Stimulating agent . The stimulus can be internal or external, such as a thought or an experience. It could be a thought of being contaminated or being robbed in the past.
- Explain. People with OCD interpret their perceived stimuli as serious and frightening events. For a trigger that becomes an obsession, the OCD person feels it is a real and imminent danger.
- Obsession/anxiety. If the OCD person perceives the stimulus as a real threat, it will cause marked anxiety and eventually an obsession with the thought or possibility of having the thought. For example, if you have a thought of being robbed that leads to terrible fear and anxiety, the thought is likely to become an obsession.
- Coercion. A compulsion is a habit or action you take in response to the stress caused by an obsession. A phobia stems from the need to control some aspect of the situation in order to give you a sense of control over the fear or phobia. It could be checking that the lights have been turned off less than five times, saying a self-made prayer, or repeatedly washing your hands. You may find that you’re arguing that the pressure of repeatedly checking your locks is still less than the stress of a robbery event that you may have to endure.
- Don’t forget that not all people with OCD have a personality disorder, but there is a high chance that OCD and OCPD co-occur. [23] X Trusted Source PubMed Central Go to source
- Many of the behaviors and thoughts associated with OCD are undesirable, so OCD often has a higher degree of dysfunction than OCPD. [24] X Trusted Source National Alliance on Mental Illness Go to Source
- For example, behaviors associated with OCD can interfere with the ability to keep hours, in rare cases even being unable to leave the home. Intrusive and sometimes vague thoughts, such as “what if I forgot something important at home this morning,” can cause devastating anxiety in the patient. If a person has these patterns of behavior and thoughts from a young age, he or she is more likely to have OCD than OCPD.
- Ask yourself if that particular pattern of thoughts and behaviors is affecting your life in a negative way. If the answer is yes, you should seek help.
- Even if your form of OCD is mild and doesn’t interfere with daily life, you may still need help to keep it from becoming unmanageable. An example of mild OCD is that you are often tempted to check the lock on your door even though you have repeatedly checked to make sure the door is locked. Even if you don’t act on those urges, this behavior can distract you and make it difficult to focus on other activities in your life.
- The line between OCD and the occasional irrational urge isn’t always clear. You will have to determine if the urge is serious enough to require professional help.
Advice
- Make sure to take your medication exactly as directed by the psychiatrist who has prescribed it for you. Do not skip, stop or increase the dose without consulting your doctor.
Warning
- If your OCD symptoms worsen or return, talk to a psychiatrist right away.
This article was co-written by Ran D. Anbar, MD, FAAP. Dr. Ran D. Anbar is a consultant pediatric and board certified general pediatric and pediatric pulmonologist, providing clinical hypnosis and consulting services at Center Point Medicine in La Jpla, California. and Syracuse, New York. With more than 30 years of medical practice and training, Dr. Anbar is also a professor of pediatrics and medicine and director of pediatric pulmonology at SUNY Upstate College of Medicine. Anbar holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from the University of California, San Diego and a medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He completed his residency in pediatrics and received his doctoral training in pediatric pulmonology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and is a former president and consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. .
There are 21 references cited in this article that you can view at the bottom of the page.
This article has been viewed 20,826 times.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by irrational fears or phobias that cause people to engage in compulsive behaviors to reduce or relieve their anxiety. OCD ranges from mild to severe and can be accompanied by other mental health problems. [1] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Going to the Source Treating OCD can be difficult, especially if the person doesn’t seek help. Psychiatrists use a variety of medications and methods to treat people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD patients can also do some therapies such as journaling, joining a support group, and using relaxation techniques to cope with OCD. If you think you may have OCD, you should seek professional help from a mental health professional. Read on to learn how to deal with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
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