Obsessive-Compulsive DisorderAt any given time, approximately 1 out of every 100 adults in the United States suffers from OCD (National Institute of Mental Health).
What is OCD?Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder characterized by obsessions and compulsions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Obsessions are persistent unwanted thoughts, images, impulses, or doubts that are intrusive and distressing. People with OCD tend to interpret these thoughts, images, or impulses as being dangerous, and therefore do not want to have them. These obsessions tend to elicit feelings of anxiety, fear, disgust, uncertainty, and frustration. Obsessions are repetitive and attempts to suppress the thoughts often only make things worse. Common obsessions include thoughts, images, or impulses related to harming oneself or others; violence; fear of causing harm to others due to making a mistake; contamination (e.g., with germs, emotions, radiation); fear of saying something provocative; making a horrible mistake; sex; religion (e.g., fear of blasphemy); morality (e.g., what's right versus wrong); the need for things to be an exact and certain way; fear of contracting a serious illness; the need to know, remember, or figure something out; intrusive words or sounds; superstitious fears; fear of having done something horrible in the past; sexual orientation, etc. |
Compulsions are strong urges to engage in a behavior and/or mental act to try to reduce the frequency of, or distress associated with, the obsessions and/or to try to keep the feared outcome(s) from happening. Although compulsions are technically purposeful behaviors or mental acts, many individuals with OCD feel that they do not have control over the compulsions and might not even realize that they are doing them. Attempts to stop or reduce compulsions often result in intense anxiety and distress.
Common compulsions include cleaning, washing, and decontaminating; arranging objects in a certain way; checking something over and over again (e.g., stove, outlets, locks, doors); engaging in a behavior over and over again (e.g., touching or tapping something, saying something out loud, re-reading, re-writing, going back to check); the need to tell, ask, or confess; reassurance seeking; mentally repeating certain phrases; doing things in certain numbers or in a specific numerical order; praying; mentally reviewing the past or current events; using only certain colors; cancelling a "bad" thoughts or act with an opposite or "good" thought or act; avoidance of triggers all together, etc.
Individuals with OCD are often plagued by doubt and guilt and feel incredibly uncomfortable with uncertainty. They are also more likely to assign a great deal of importance to their thoughts or the meaning of their thoughts and to have great difficulty tolerating feeling anxious or distressed.
Common compulsions include cleaning, washing, and decontaminating; arranging objects in a certain way; checking something over and over again (e.g., stove, outlets, locks, doors); engaging in a behavior over and over again (e.g., touching or tapping something, saying something out loud, re-reading, re-writing, going back to check); the need to tell, ask, or confess; reassurance seeking; mentally repeating certain phrases; doing things in certain numbers or in a specific numerical order; praying; mentally reviewing the past or current events; using only certain colors; cancelling a "bad" thoughts or act with an opposite or "good" thought or act; avoidance of triggers all together, etc.
Individuals with OCD are often plagued by doubt and guilt and feel incredibly uncomfortable with uncertainty. They are also more likely to assign a great deal of importance to their thoughts or the meaning of their thoughts and to have great difficulty tolerating feeling anxious or distressed.
How Do You Treat OCD?
The gold-standard psychotherapy treatment for OCD is called Exposure and Response Prevention, sometimes referred to as ERP or EXRP. The first-line treatment approach for OCD should include ERP, Medication, or both depending on the severity of the symptoms. ERP is a type of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This treatment includes having individuals purposefully confront the things that cause them anxiety and distress (thoughts, images, impulses, external or internal triggers, doubts) and then having the client "response prevent," or in other words stop engaging in, or significantly modify, the compulsions that normally follow the obsessions. This is done in a safe, gradual, systematic way to ensure that individuals are as successful as they can be.
If participating in exposures and stopping your compulsions sounds difficult or scary, don't worry, you are not alone. Your therapist is there to help you and give you tools to help support you. Stopping the cycle of anxiety is a challenging task, but it can be done. We feel strongly that ERP is an effective and safe treatment, and many clients are able to get back to living life without being tormented by their thoughts and controlled by their compulsions.
We occasionally incorporate components of mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) into the ERP protocol if indicated or requested by our clients. To schedule an appointment or learn more, please call 630-570-0050.
If participating in exposures and stopping your compulsions sounds difficult or scary, don't worry, you are not alone. Your therapist is there to help you and give you tools to help support you. Stopping the cycle of anxiety is a challenging task, but it can be done. We feel strongly that ERP is an effective and safe treatment, and many clients are able to get back to living life without being tormented by their thoughts and controlled by their compulsions.
We occasionally incorporate components of mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) into the ERP protocol if indicated or requested by our clients. To schedule an appointment or learn more, please call 630-570-0050.
Resources
OCD statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
International OCD Foundation Resources:
OCD General Information
International OCD Foundation
Exposure and Response Prevention
Contamination Fears
"Just Right" OCD
Scrupulosity Fears (Morality and Religion)
Violent and Sexual Obsessions
OCD in Children and Adolescents
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
International OCD Foundation Resources:
OCD General Information
International OCD Foundation
Exposure and Response Prevention
Contamination Fears
"Just Right" OCD
Scrupulosity Fears (Morality and Religion)
Violent and Sexual Obsessions
OCD in Children and Adolescents
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
