Mutherfucking OCD

OCD, or obessessive compulsive disorder, is a relatively common type of anxiety disorder where people develop compulsive behaviors or actions to help manage obsessive thoughts. This usually begins gradually with a person taking part in some behavior that helps slow down or momentary stop an obsessive thought. This, in turn, becomes a ritual where the behavior may be repeated multiple times with the goal of stopping the obsessive thoughts.

The most common behaviors include activities such as hand washing, showering,  cleaning, and checking locks or appliances. In fact, the obsessive thoughts most commonly revolve around health, illness, and safety.

Some common symptoms of this include samples of three main aspects of behaviors, mood, and psychology. Behaviors include compulsion, agitation, hording, hypervigilance, impulsivity, ritualistic behaviors, social isolation, and meaningless repitition of words and movement. Mood symptoms include anxiety, apprehension, guilt, and panic attacks. Psychological symptoms include depression, fears, and replaying thoughts. Most common of these include food aversions, nightmares, and fears connected to germs or safety.

Now I wish I could tell you why or what causes this type of anxiety disorder, but I fucking can’t. Every person is different and every contributing factor can be unique to each person and their diagnosis.  What we do know is that it is suspected to be a combination fucking genetics, biology and the environment.

While treatment usually includes the use of SSRIs and antidepressants in combination of therapies such as CBT, EMDR, aversion, exposure, psychoeducation, and support groups, there have been the introduction of new techniques.

The most popular of these growing interventions is known as the 15-minute rule. This is when an individual waits a minimum of 15 minutes after the start of ugres to begin a compulsive behavior. The idea is that the delay or resistance of the behavior is enough to help interrupt the cycle of obsession to compulsion and allow anxiety to naturally play out and decline.

…until next week