5 Things Only Someone With OCD Will Understand
22August

5 Things Only Someone With OCD Will Understand

Written by Craig Rogers, Posted on , in Section Teens & Tweens

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is much more common than many people realize. One in one hundred people may not sound like many when you first think about it, but it almost certainly means that one or more people that you know are affected by OCD. Of the 1% of the population who must struggle with this stifling disorder, 50% of cases are classified as severe.

Because of the way it is portrayed in the popular media, OCD is rarely taken seriously. This has contributed to a poor understanding of the topic overall. A lack of understanding has led many individuals to forgo treatment, contributing to unnecessary suffering in their lives.

Creating understanding about OCD will hopefully help young men, and all sufferers, seek treatment before the disorder has a chance to further prevent sufferers from finding happiness, peace and success.

What You Might Not Know About Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

1. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is not a joke. Despite the way it is often portrayed, it is not merely a quirk or an eccentricity. The rituals and routines of an individual dealing with obsessive compulsion can come to feel like a trap that may seem inescapable. It can hinder personal progress toward goals, achievement, harm personal relationships, become a career obstacle and lead to diminished emotional understanding overall.

2. Suffering from OCD means a lot of wasted time. The behaviors that characterize OCD, in order to be classified as true Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, must take one hour a day or more. I don't know about you, but I don't have an extra hour every day. In the case of those suffering from a severe case of OCD, it can eat up significantly more time. You can begin to see why this could be so problematic when it comes to relationships and career prospects.

3. OCD is not just about being overly hygenic. This is one of the myths propagated by the media. OCD is not about hand washing or turning a door knob a certain number of times (though it can incorporate those behaviors), it will usually manifest as intrusive, unpleasant, sometimes horrific thoughts. Some individuals can't help picturing terrible things happening to themselves or their families, some may have images of a violent or unpleasant sexual nature.

4. The repetitive behaviors that are most commonly associated with OCD are usually a response to those intrusive thoughts. The individual who suffers from OCD is often unable to escape a loop of intrusive thoughts without performing some ritual to abandon the thought. And even that is often not successful, confining the individual to a prison of their own terrible thoughts, without a way to escape them until they find a new escape route, often manifest through a complicated set of time-consuming behaviors.

5. The only way that most individuals will be able to escape their symptoms is through treatment. The way that individuals self-treat is through performing the ritualized behaviors that grant them a temporary reprieve from their obsessive thoughts. This is sort of similar to applying pressure to stop the bleeding of a wound. Eventually, you're going to need to seek medical treatment. Treatment using cognitive behavioral therapy that incorporates exposure and response therapy have real success in relieving the symptoms of OCD by helping individuals create alternative resolutions for their obsessive thoughts. It's not easy, which is why so many individuals forgo treatment.