Obsessive Compulsive

Are you the type of per­son who needs to have your bed made before you can do any­thing else? Or per­haps you are con­stantly wash­ing your hands, not ever feel­ing that they are com­pletely free of germs. While the for­mer may not be an exam­ple of what con­sti­tutes an obsessive-compulsive dis­or­der, the lat­ter may.

Com­pul­sions are the thoughts and/or actions you feel you must do and repeat con­stantly. The com­pul­sion is what you do to try and deal with the anx­i­ety and dis­tress caused by the obses­sion; the two clearly go hand in hand. Com­pul­sions that one has may help to relieve the dis­tress only tem­porar­ily, but obses­sions soon return and the vicious cycle begins again. For a lot of the peo­ple affected, the dis­or­der may take over their life and cor­rupt their work and social environments.

If you think you have obsessive-compulsive dis­or­der, or know some­one who does, there are treat­ments avail­able. Unfor­tu­nately, for a lot of peo­ple, they avoid telling their doc­tor or other peo­ple about their prob­lem. The fear of being labelled as crazy is one rea­son, while oth­ers are purely in denial about the fact. Cog­ni­tive ther­apy, behav­iour ther­apy, med­i­cine, and a com­bi­na­tion of them all are the top treat­ments for the disorder.

Cog­ni­tive ther­apy is the act of talk­ing to a doc­tor about your prob­lem and is prob­a­bly the most effec­tive obsessive-compulsive dis­or­der treat­ment avail­able. Behav­iour ther­apy is the act of chang­ing your behav­iours that may be harm­ful and not help­ful, like med­i­ta­tion to con­trol anxiety.