Everything you need to know about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Types of OCD and its Symptoms

How is OCD treated?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health disorder characterized by • Obsession: These symptoms include unpleasant thoughts or ideas that interfere with your life and make it difficult to focus on other things. • Compulsions: These symptoms include actions you feel compelled to undertake in reaction to your obsessions. OCD can manifest no formal categorization or subtype OCD, research suggests that people encounter OCD symptoms in four major groups: • Cleaning and contamination • Symmetry and ordering • Forbidden, harmful, or taboo thoughts and impulses • Hoarding, when the need to collect or keep certain items relates to obsessions or compulsions These groups of symptoms are also described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Mental health professionals might refer to them as symptom dimensions rather than O. Why wellness is important for your life? Consult Expert Astrologers to know more.

Types of OCD and its Symptoms

Although all varieties of OCD share symptoms, how they manifest themselves in daily life varies greatly across individuals. Nonetheless, it appears that it is critical at this moment to expand our understanding. The kind basically describes how the person’s OCD affects them. What occupies the mind, and what thoughts develop as a result of this preoccupation? These kinds are rather stable throughout time, with new symptoms arising and old ones diminishing. Clinicians describe OCD as varied because it varies so greatly from person to person.

1. Cleaning and contamination

• Persistent worry about germs or sickness
• Thoughts about feeling dirty or unclean (physically or mentally)
• Persistent fears about exposure to blood, toxic substances, viruses, or other sources of contamination
• Avoidance of possible sources of contamination
• Compulsions to get rid of items you consider dirty (even if they aren’t dirty)
• Compulsions to wash or clean contaminated items
• Accurate cleaning or washing techniques, such as hand washing or scrubbing a surface a specific number of times

2. Symmetry and ordering

• A need for items or belongings to be aligned in a certain way
• An extreme need for symmetry or organization in items
• A need for symmetry in actions (if you scratch your left knee, you also must scratch your right knee)
• A compulsion to arrange your belongings or other items until they feel “just right”
• Feeling incomplete when items aren’t exact
• Counting procedures, such as needing to count to a particular number of times.
• Magical thinking, or believing something bad will happen if you don’t arrange or organize things in the right way
• organization rituals or specific ways of aligning objects

3. Forbidden thoughts

• Frequent intrusive thoughts that are often sexual or violent in nature
• Guilt, shame, and other distress about your thoughts
• Persistent questioning of your sexual orientation, desires, or sexual interests
• Persistent worry that you’ll act on your intrusive thoughts or that having them makes you a bad person
• Frequent worry that you’ll harm yourself or someone else without meaning to
• Obsessions about religious ideas that feel blasphemous or wrong
• Persistent feelings of responsibility for causing bad things to happen
• Compulsions to hide things you could use as a weapon
• Seeking reassurance that you won’t act on intrusive thoughts
• Seeking reassurance that you’re not a bad person
• Mental rituals to dispel or cancel out your thoughts
• Regularly reviewing your daily activities to verify you haven’t harmed someone, whether mentally or physically retracing your ways
People are already reporting a “kind” of OCD described as “pure O,” which consists of physical or religious obsessions and compulsions but no outwardly observable compulsions. This is a popular expression, although it is not a clinical or diagnostic word. It is similar to other symptoms connected with banned ideas.

4. Hoarding

• Persistent worry that throwing something away could bring harm to you or someone else
• A need to collect a certain number of items to protect yourself or someone else from harm
• Extreme fear of throwing away an important or essential item by accident (such as mail with sensitive or needed information)
• A compulsion to buy multiples of the same item, even when you don’t need that many
• Difficulty throwing away things because touching them could cause contamination
• Feeling incomplete if you can’t find a possession or accidentally lost or threw it away
• A compulsion to check or review your possessions
Hoarding in the context of OCD differs from hoarding disorder, a separate mental health condition. The main difference between the two is the distress involved with hoarding-related OCD.

5. Another type of OCD involves behavioral tics, such as:-
• Shrugging
• Throat-clearing
• Blinking
• Twitching
These tics may help to alleviate the unpleasant thoughts and feelings of grief or incompleteness that accompany OCD. Tic-related OCD affects both adults and children. Childhood OCD is more frequent. OCD does not normally impact children, the way that it does to adults. Compulsions might appear in subtle ways, such as avoidance of contact or social involvement, although they are typically obvious. Obsessions might be more subtle. Rational thinking, such as seeking confirmation and keeping track of activities, may reflect natural developmental stages. Children may display more symptoms than adults.

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How is OCD Treated?

Counselling and medication, or a combination of the two, are the most effective treatment techniques for OCD, according to mental health specialists. The most commonly recommended remedy is exposure and response prevention (ERP), a form of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This treatment method gradually exposes you to the causes of your obsessions or compulsions.

In the secure setting of treatment, one can understand how to deal with discomfort without acting on cravings. Following therapy, you will most likely spend some time practising these skills at home or elsewhere. If OCD symptoms are severe or do not look obsessive enough to be treated alone, your therapist may recommend that you visit a psychiatrist for medication. You may only require it for a short time while learning how to manage your symptoms throughout treatment. Antidepressants or antipsychotics, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), can help with OCD symptoms.

These diagnoses can sometimes determine the most successful OCD treatment. One 2008 study looked at existing evidence on how OCD symptoms react to different types of therapy. Certain symptom categories, such as cleanliness and contamination, may be less responsive to SSRIs, according to the research. ERP therapy may not be as effective for obsessive thinking, according to the same study. Other CBT strategies, such as mindfulness-based CBT, may offer further benefits. However, research findings may vary. Even if two people have extremely similar symptoms, they will not always respond in the same way to therapy.
Deep brain stimulation is a novel therapeutic approach that may help lessen OCD symptoms in those who have not responded to conventional therapies. However, this therapy has not yet been thoroughly investigated. It might be hazardous to one’s health. Speak with your primary care physician or a mental health expert if you’re interested in deep brain stimulation.

Talk therapy helps in mild cases of OCD. Wellness experts at Ganeshaspeaks.com can help you with your mental wellness issues. Download the app now to speak to our experts.