Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is no joke. It’s an anxiety disorder that consists of obsessions — an unwanted thought that you have over and over — which leads to compulsions — a little coping mechanism you do to get rid of the thought. The compulsions might not sound like such a bad thing, but really they are time-consuming and short-term solutions, because the thought always comes back. This article will educate about OCD and its hardships, cures, and effects, while also sharing bits of my own story. I sincerely hope my writing can help someone who is or knows someone battling OCD, or at least to spread awareness on the condition. It might be startling how many signs and symptoms of OCD you can see from people who you would never guess could be going through anything of the sort.

Starting from the beginning, OCD is a mental condition, so it’s in the brain. We aren’t sure of the cause completely, but it’s thought to be primarily genetic. If you have OCD, someone in your family probably has it or has like symptoms. For me, it started during COVID-19, so there was always lots of  “wash your hands” or “stay six feet away.” I also think my mother might have had or does have some OCD, and I believe that’s how my “wash your hands after you go outside” or “never touch doorknobs in public places” started. Of course, I took it way too far and would wash my hands after going outside for a second or touching any doorknob. OCD is a learned behavior, something that gradually becomes part of your life. It’s little habits that grow over time into controlling anxiety. 

That brings me to the little habits. The compulsions. It’s the things you do repeatedly to stop the thought, which are usually excessive or unnecessary. For example, one of mine was that I had to wash my hands five times after using the bathroom. Clearly superfluous. Such as this, the compulsions overall take up time and energy, impacting daily life. There are different compulsions for different types of OCD. The most common types are contamination, symmetry, hoarding, checking, and order. 

Contamination is the one I’ve mentioned most, consisting of fear of germs and getting dirty, leading to immoderate cleaning. It could also be mental contamination, meaning fear of thinking “bad thoughts,” such as bad memories or normally taboo subjects. They then would replace it with something they think is a “good thought,” which could be praying or thinking things like “I’m a bad person” to counteract the bad thought. 

Symmetry OCD is when you feel the need for things to be even, like you bump your arm and you feel like you have to bump your other arm to make it feel right. It could also be even more excessive. I would have to bump the other arm, then bump it again, then the first one again so both arms each went first once and second once. 

Hoarding is saving things, like you’d have a candy wrapper and you’d save it in case you’d need it later, even though you probably won’t. You want to get rid of it, but the intrusive thoughts keep coming. “What if my family is going to die and the only way to survive is with the candy wrapper?” 

Checking could be a couple things — it could be checking things like making sure you locked the door at night; even though you’re already in bed, the thought won’t stop until you make sure you locked the door. Or, it could be checking as in reassurance. Asking people questions over and over, “Did I do something wrong?” “Am I going to get sick?” People with OCD use this as grounding. They know what they’re doing doesn’t make sense, and other people reassuring them of that is almost like proving to themselves that they don’t need to do these strange compulsions. Either that, or it’s part of a compulsion. 

Lastly, order. I would say order is the most common one for people without OCD to claim that they have it. I’ve heard people say, “Those books not being straight are bothering me, I have OCD,” and then just walk away like nothing happened. But if they really had order OCD, they would’ve ran right back over and straightened those books. So, order OCD is feeling the need for things to be straight or perfectly even, but it could also consist of counting to a certain number before leaving a room, or even spinning around three times after you eat. There are endless types of OCD, and it’s different for every person, but those are the main types of the disorder.

Although it’s very difficult for the convalescent, it’s also difficult for peers. Family and friends can become part of compulsive rituals, as in they have to do something for their loved one’s thought to go away. OCD also impacts the sufferer’s emotions. With my OCD, I noticed lots of anger, and found myself lashing out at my family because of how stressed I was. I didn’t like acting that way, but I couldn’t help expressing my emotions savagely. Hypersensitivity was also very common, taking all comments very seriously and constantly feeling upset. I saw these things rubbing off on my family, whether it was sympathy or hurt from something I said, which only made me feel worse. Besides emotions, it can also be hard for family and friends to handle if the person with OCD has a panic attack or something similar. It’s difficult to know what to do in that situation, and it’s also difficult to explain what you should do, because honestly, I don’t know. Everyone needs different things when going through that, I’m not even sure what I need in that situation. 

There isn’t a cure for OCD. It never really goes away. But there are things you can do to help a lot, three main things in specific. Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and medicine. I have done all three of these things, so here is my advice…

Regular therapy is a good option, but I don’t think that doing only that will solve the problem. It works, but at some points in OCD, that’s not enough. Though Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)  is a type of therapy, it works much better because it’s specifically for this type of case. Basically, it exposes the patient to the fears. For example, if they’re afraid of touching their schoolbooks, the CBT specialist would help them slowly be able to touch them, starting with maybe just a pinky finger to eventually rubbing them on their face. If even the pinky finger is too hard, something my specialist did was take a tissue and rub it on the schoolbooks (or whatever the item is) and then the person with OCD will touch the tissue. If that’s too hard, rub the tissue on another, then that tissue on another, and so on. CBT really helped me, but I don’t think I could’ve done any of the practices without medicine. There isn’t an OCD medication, but regular anxiety pills work great. They help a lot. It’s challenging especially for parents and guardians to feel comfortable with a child on medication. It can feel scary, or like the medicine will make the kid zombie-like and not themselves. If you’re feeling that way, remember that the person needs help and needs medicine. It’ll help them be more like themselves. So, as a person who has gone through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and its struggles, please don’t forbid your child from having medicine because you’re scared. If it isn’t going well, you can add or subtract the amount of medicine, or switch it all together. If you aren’t able to access a treatment, you can still challenge yourself and practice by yourself. There are free websites and apps you can get too, some of which (the ones I tested) are cited at the end of the article. 

In conclusion, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a difficult mental illness that is more common than you think. If you think you have OCD, talk to a therapist, specialist, or family and friends. This article and online tests aren’t necessarily reliable for diagnosing. My goal is to educate and help anyone who reads this article and spread awareness for this disorder. Please share this article or talk about OCD to help make a difference in the world for those suffering with OCD.

Apps

NOCD–Good for talking to other people and free at-home therapy

Choiceful–Very understanding and good quality but it’s not free

ObsessLess–Cute and interactive education but it’s not free

Tappy–Not for OCD specifically but very calming sensory and fidget app, with venting and journaling features and completely free

Delay:OCD Recovery–Free and very helpful for delaying compulsions