Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, involves having obsessive thinking patterns that can include unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that make a person feel anxious or distressed.
Individuals living with OCD often have significant difficulty pushing away or ignoring these thoughts. Those with OCD also have compulsive behaviors which are an attempt to reverse the obsessive thoughts or urges by performing some sort of action.
Common OCD symptoms:
- Intrusive thoughts
- Constant checking or counting
- The repeated cleaning of one or more items
- Constantly checking the stove or door locks
- Fear of contamination
- Hoarding
- Thoughts that you might be harmed
- Thoughts that you might cause others harm
- These thughts and actions/behaviors often take up several hours of the day
If one or more of the above symptoms resonates with you, I encourage you to look into OCD therapy today. Research shows the most effective treatments for OCD are Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), a component of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or medication.