Recognizing the Signs of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

You may hear obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) used as a common expression. People who are sticklers for neatness or who frequently spray disinfectant to eliminate germs often say, “I’m so OCD.”

 Unfortunately, being part of the latest slang trivializes the reality of OCD. OCD is a mental health disorder that causes intense anxiety, uncontrollable and unwanted thoughts, and repetitive behaviors.

 OCD diminishes the quality of a person’s life by consuming their time with distressing obsessions and compulsions, the two symptoms that define the condition.

 Our Palo Alto Mind Body team offers OCD treatments proven to ease your symptoms, help you overcome OCD, and regain control of your life. Let’s explore OCD’s symptoms and its related disorders.

About OCD

 OCD often causes two symptoms: unwanted, recurring thoughts (obsessions) and uncontrollable repetitive behaviors (compulsions). You may have just one of these symptoms or experience both obsessions and compulsions. 

Obsessions cause severe anxiety, fear, dread, and sometimes, disgust or shame. These intolerable feelings may compel you to perform specific compulsive behaviors.

Compulsions ease the anxiety, but only temporarily. Eventually, the obsessive thoughts return, and you repeat the same ritualistic behavior.

This ongoing OCD cycle often consumes at least an hour of your time every day and causes significant distress. In severe cases, OCD takes up so much time that you can’t keep up with work and family responsibilities or enjoy time with friends.

Obsessive symptoms

Obsessions often follow a theme. However, the themes can change, or your obsessions may consist of random images, music, or thoughts.

Some of the most common themes include:

• Contamination: Fear of germs, diseases, and environmental toxins
• Harm: Fear you might harm yourself or others
• Perfection: Insistence on order, symmetry, or fearing you’ll make mistakes
• Religious or moral: Obsessive thoughts about faith and morality 
• Sexual: Fear of unwanted sexual behavior or sexual abuse

You may experience other themes. There are also many possible variations on these themes. For example, worrying about losing important items or fearing you forgot to do a task are other examples of perfection-based obsessions.

Compulsive symptoms

Compulsions often follow the theme of your obsessions. For example, you may constantly check your doors and windows to be sure they’re locked to ease the fear of being harmed. You may frequently wash your hands or shower if your obsession is a fear of germs.

Some compulsions don’t fall in line with a theme. Instead, you may have unrelated mental rituals. You may compulsively count, repeat words or phrases, or continually relive conversations.

These are a few of the most common compulsions:

• Cleaning
• Hoarding
• Hand washing or showering
• Ordering or arranging (putting things in order or placing them in a specific way)
• Checking (ensuring doors are locked, the oven is off, etc.)
• Asking for reassurance
• Silently counting, praying, or repeating words
• Repeating specific thoughts to counter the obsessive thoughts
• Repeating the same activity a particular number of times

One of the most distressing aspects of OCD is that you know the door is locked (because you just checked it 15 minutes ago), but the obsession is so urgent and your anxiety so severe that you can’t stop the behavior.

Related disorders

There are related disorders that share some symptoms with OCD. Here are three examples:

Hoarding disorder

Hoarding is a common OCD symptom, but it can also exist without OCD. People with hoarding disorder have significant anxiety and distress over getting rid of possessions. As a result, the possessions accumulate so extensively that they take over your living space.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)

If you have BDD, you obsess and become distressed over perceived flaws in your appearance. The flaws that bother you aren’t noticeable or are perceived as slight to others. In addition to anxiety, BDD may also cause repetitive behaviors or thoughts (compulsions).

Hair-pulling disorder  (trichotillomania)

With this condition, you repeatedly pull out your hair, causing significant distress or impairment in functioning.  In some cases, anxiety triggers the hair pulling (much like OCD). Skin-picking disorder (dermatillomania), can manifest in similar ways.

Compassionate treatment for OCD

At Palo Alto Mind Body, we offer several evidence-based treatments for OCD. We work closely with you, developing individualized care that may include a team approach with interventional treatments, psychotherapy, or medications.

We offer interventional treatments such as IV ketamine infusions, a cutting-edge therapy that can produce rapid results and is shown to significantly reduce obsessions and compulsions.

Call Palo Alto Mind Body today to determine if OCD causes your symptoms and learn more about your treatment options.