OCD, also known as obsessive-compulsive disorder, or obsession-compulsive disorder, is when a person is disturbed by involuntary thoughts that come to his mind and constantly engages in various behaviors to eliminate the discomfort caused by these thoughts. In other words, obsessive compulsive disorder usually has two stages. Involuntary, disturbing thoughts that come to mind; behaviors that try to relieve this unrest. However, in some types, only thoughts occupy the mind. The person does not act to eliminate the discomfort caused by these thoughts. Whether it consists only of thoughts that disturb the mind or both thoughts and behaviors that follow these thoughts, OCD is a psychological disease that seriously reduces a person's quality of life and makes the person and his/her environment unhappy. The good news is that it is treatable: OCD is a treatable disease.
The most common type of OCD involves contamination/contamination anxiety. These people may exhibit various avoidance behaviors and compulsions, thinking that they will be infected with a microbe. The best example of compulsions is constant hand washing behavior. The most important feature that distinguishes the hand washing of a person with OCD from normal hand washing is the constant washing done over and over again. The person washes his hands, but cannot be convinced that his hands are clean and washes them again and again. For this reason, these people's hands often become irritated due to the chemicals used, such as soap, and frequent washing. These people may use bleach from time to time to clean their hands, or they may constantly wash their hands by mixing bleach with soap. Using bleach accelerates irritation of hands. The thought that the microbe seen in this disease may be transmitted can create many avoidance behaviors. For example, a person does not touch door handles with bare hands because he thinks his hands will get germs. He opens the door using more napkins or opens the door using his elbow/arm instead of his hand. Especially the doors of public toilets are a nightmare for these people.
The most common type of OCD is contamination/contamination, which causes this disease to be known among the public as a cleaning disease. He was the one who did it. However, OCD can also occur with different symptoms. When naming based on these symptoms, it is seen that there are the following types of OCD: doubt/control OCD, order/symmetry OCD, inappropriate thought (religious, sexual, aggressive) OCD, superstitious thought OCD and hoarding OCD.
In doubt/control OCD, the person may constantly doubt whether he or she has completed important tasks such as whether he or she locked the door, turned off the gas, turned off the water, or turned off the electricity. In order to eliminate these doubts that come to mind obsessively, they check the things they doubt about. But the checks don't put them at ease. Even after checking, he doubts whether he checked or not. These people may have a fear of making mistakes. For example, the fear of forgetting an important appointment, the fear of handing in a bad assignment, the fear of doing a bad job. This fear often prevents them from doing what they want to do. People with doubt/control OCD may also constantly seek reassurance. They constantly want assurance that they are loved by their relatives and that their homes are not in danger. But even when reassurance is given, they are often not satisfied. They pursue either over and over again or new assurances.
In order-symmetry OCD, the person wants order and symmetry in everything and always. He is not satisfied or comfortable until certain tasks are done “completely”. Where order and symmetry are sought may vary from person to person. Some want books in order, some like cabinets, some like numbers, some like money, some want carpet fringes.
In inappropriate thought OCD, people may have religious, sexual or aggressive thoughts that are socially inappropriate. Thoughts with inappropriate religious content may come to mind during worship, such as inappropriate thoughts of sexual content, or there may be a desire to blaspheme religious values. In inappropriate sexual thoughts, thoughts of sex with people in close circle such as sister, brother, mother and father may come to mind. In some people, thoughts about being homosexual occupy their minds. People feel very serious guilt and shame about such thoughts, and they usually cannot confide these thoughts to their surroundings or to the specialist. They make their lives more difficult by fighting soldiers in the wrong way. Thoughts with inappropriate aggressive content often come to mind with thoughts of attacking someone in need of help, such as a child or a disabled person, and create guilt.
In superstitious thought OCD, people can create rituals by attaching extraordinary meanings to various numbers or situations. For example, the belief that getting up at three before nine will make one's day worse forces the person to get up at another time. In some cases, these superstitious thoughts contain cultural elements. Just as a glass that does not break when dropped can be a source of evil, or a black cat can bring bad luck.
In Hoarding OCD, people do not bother throwing away anything in their homes. That's why the house can turn into a garbage house. These people often live isolated from society, are more lonely, and are often detected by social workers.
In OCD, as in many psychological diseases, sometimes those around you may not understand how the person cannot rid himself of disturbing thoughts and how he cannot put an end to frequently recurring compulsive behaviors. Because, unlike physically based diseases, there is often no concrete, visible cause, as in many other psychological diseases. This abstractness makes it difficult to understand the disease and the patient. This lack of understanding may create the impression that the person is doing these frequently repeated behaviors on purpose. This may cause those around them to treat the person more harshly.
Again, as with many psychological diseases, those with the disease in question do not seek help for a long time due to fear of stigmatization. Because, contrary to popular belief, the condition of people with this disease may not be immediately apparent from the outside. This makes it easier for people to hide the disease. However, as people hide the disease, the disease progresses, reduces the person's quality of life, makes the person unhappy, makes the person's environment unhappy, creates new diseases such as depression, and disrupts the basic functions in the person's life and can no longer be hidden. However, in these cases, patients seek help.
Seeking help may not always be appropriate. In regions where more traditional understanding prevails Instead of consulting a mental health specialist, people may prefer to consult religious leaders such as pilgrims, hodjas and sheikhs. The intervention of these people, who do not have any training or knowledge about the disease, its course and treatment, often causes harm. Not only does the disease not heal, but the lack of response drives patients and their families to despair. This hopelessness makes subsequent medical/professional interventions difficult.
The most effective known treatment of OCD is exposure/response prevention. In this treatment method, developed on the basis of the cognitive behavioral school, the person is gradually exposed to obsessions and prevented from performing compulsions. Since this application is done gradually, the patient can overcome the anxiety he/she experiences.
Not treating OCD will negatively affect not only the patient with OCD but also his/her environment. Especially those who have children during their developmental period, may reflect this situation on the child, causing the child to experience a negative developmental course and affecting his/her entire life. Therefore, the treatment of OCD not only improves the patient's quality of life, but also has a very positive impact on those around them. That's why it's important for people with OCD to take this into consideration when thinking about treatment.
Read: 0
