Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

•   Washing repeatedly, even when not required
•   Cleaning over and over again, unnecessarily
•   Hoarding unnecessary articles
•   Thinking of the same thing, persistently
•   Obsession with perfectionism
•   Recurrent unwanted intrusive ideas, images that are silly, weird, nasty or horrible and an urge to do something that will relieve the discomfort.

Effects of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

1. OCD can be extremely debilitating the person, to the extent of the person being confined to the house.

2. As the patients are used to the OCD symptoms, they may not realise how much OCD is affecting their life.

3. Psychiatric treatment can considerably reduce the OCD symptoms and then psychological treatment like cognitive behaviour therapy would enable them to work on even eliminating the OCD symptoms.

4. The person suffering from OCD is not purposefully doing the OCD rituals to annoy others. They are as helpless as the family members; thus the OCD affects the entire family directly or indirectly.

5. When a person gets OCD it can adversely affect their relationship with others; becoming critical of them or forcing them to stop the rituals would make them start the ritual from the beginning and repeat the entire process.