OCD: When Obsessions and Compulsions Rule Your Life

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is one of the many mental disorders often misused, describing some who either like being tidy or arranging things in a pattern. However, the disorder is more than just cleaning and tidying up things. It is a real disorder that many suffer, and some go undiagnosed.

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas, and sensations called obsessions, and compulsions which are behavior that they do to ease the obsessions but can be disruptive in a person's daily life.

For example, Michelle has always had obsessions in touching every ring of the stove, even if she is not using it. Even as a child, she observed that she has rituals that her mind does not allow her to deviate from. Today at 48 years old, these obsessions and compulsions have stayed with her.

It has become part of her life, although it is very exhausting and demands a lot of her time and energy. But thanks to therapy, her symptoms are much better now than before.

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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder When Obsessions and Compulsions Rule Your Life

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a Common Illness

Compulsions can start at an early stage but often develops in adulthood. According to psychiatrist Andreas Wahl-Kordon, obsessive-compulsive disorder is a common mental illness, although not always obvious because society has made it a taboo and concealed concept.

Sometimes, people with OCD do not take their bizarre behavior seriously. They should be aware of their behavior and be prepared to start treatment.

Therapists would ask the patient to undergo a battery of tests and would often ask them screening questions, like "Do you clean or wash extremely often?" or "Are you concerned with symmetries?" and "Are there thoughts that do not let go of you?"

Wahl-Kordon noted that the most significant sign of this disorder is the intensity of these behaviors and the amount of time they spend on obsessing on certain things.

In Michelle's case, she was told to force herself to permit situations that she finds terrifying and would otherwise avoid. This method would help her deal with her obsessions and compulsions, which have been rooted in the past.

Checking the Checks and Having New Perspectives

When Michelle met her husband, she immediately got him involved by asking him to help her with her checking. She said that when she after her check-up, her husband would always do a very last follow-up check-up to give her the security that everything is checked thoroughly.

Michelle will even check her husband if he has checked everything properly. That means she is also checking the checker for 20 years. But with therapy and with the help of her husband, this too has now improved.

For now, Michelle has taken up a new job as a teacher in social law to special education teachers from being a lawyer. She would often use her experience in engaging and teaching other people. According to her, aspiring teachers must learn to handle people like her in the future.

She has undergone trauma therapy, depression, and exposure therapy to help her with the symptoms, which have improved over the years. Although she admitted to still checking the stove and the refrigerator, and still has the obsession of doing everything right as she is afraid that she might be doing everything wrong.