Understanding Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

[Voice of Hope June 5, 2023](Editor: Li Wenhan) Obsessive-compulsive disorder (obsession) is a mental illness in which patients exhibit strange behaviors. For example, keep washing your hands, repeatedly confirming that the door is locked and so on.

These behaviors will consume a lot of time and energy and affect their life and work.

At the same time, obsessive-compulsive disorder may bring a lot of negative emotions, such as anxiety, fear and inner restlessness, which makes the patient feel very uncomfortable.

In real life, we will definitely find that your side or even yourself have such a habit.

When you lock the door, you will always think again whether you locked it or not.

Once there is a certain distance from home, it is always difficult to rest assured, and it is necessary to confirm whether the safety measures have been properly implemented many times.

When traveling, I will check the items in the suitcase over and over again, for fear that something will be forgotten, which will cause inconvenience during the journey.

In fact, many people know that their behavior is meaningless, and subconsciously lock the door or take all the things. There is no need to check and check repeatedly, but why do they still have compulsive behavior?

Psychology says that if you check the door lock repeatedly before going out one day, it means you are sick.

What is OCD?

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental disorder in which patients often perform certain behaviors or think about certain ideas repeatedly or excessively in order to relieve inner anxiety and anxiety.

These include repeatedly washing one’s hands, body, and belongings to remove imaginary germs or dirt.

Double-checking that things are done properly, such as the aforementioned door being locked, the patient may count repeatedly.

To determine the correctness of certain numbers, patients will also perform mental calculations repeatedly, such as arranging the numbers according to certain rules.

Another serious situation is that the patient will have irrational thinking and delusions, which will lead to extreme anxiety and fear in the heart.

People with OCD experience both compulsions and counter-compulsions.

They may know that their behavior is irrational or meaningless, but it is difficult to control their behavior. This ambivalence may have a negative impact on patients’ daily work and social interaction.

In recent years, the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder has increased year by year, and about one to two percent of people worldwide suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder for life.

In addition, according to some data, most obsessive-compulsive disorders occur before the age of twenty-five.

This trend may be related to factors such as the accelerated pace of modern society and increased pressure.

When people compress their free time day after day and have no time to take a vacation for their souls, there will be a little bit of haze in their hearts.

Patients will have uncontrollable thoughts or behaviors. These things do not come from real stimuli, but the consciousness of the patient at the subjective level.

Patients will have ambivalence. On the one hand, they want to resist repetitive behaviors, but on the other hand, they have to repeat the behaviors because of the anxiety and uneasiness that are difficult to eliminate in their hearts.

Such thoughts and urges tend to persist for a long time and bring negative emotional experiences to patients.

For example, inner pain, anxiety and tension, etc. In addition, repetitive behaviors are only a temporary relief measure, which cannot relieve the patient’s anxiety and anxiety for a long time.

The formation process of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

There are generally three stages in the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder:

cumulative anxiety phase

intrusive thought stage

intensive stage

When people encounter certain trigger points in their daily life, they will arouse their inner anxiety. These starting points may come from past experiences, such as not locking the door, not washing hands and eating, being reprimanded by parents, etc.

At this stage, when the experience and accumulation of anxiety reaches a certain level, people will try to eliminate this anxiety through certain behaviors or rituals.

These behaviors are often not directly related to the original starting point, but they are believed to solve anxiety problems. However, behaviors and rituals are not really a way to cure anxiety, but will aggravate the patient’s anxiety and anxiety.

Although the thoughts and concepts in the brains of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients have no actual basis, they will continue to invade the patient’s consciousness.

These things are closely related to the patient’s inner fear, anxiety or depression, and they often have nothing to do with the patient’s actual behavior, which brings greater distress and pain to the patient.

People with OCD can feel like they can’t control their thoughts. After all, some anxieties seem to be born out of thin air.

You can’t find the basis or the source, but in order to relieve anxiety, you can only do something repeatedly.

Patients in this stage reinforce their compulsive behaviors, which they believe are essential or they would not be able to control their emotions.

Over time, the level of reinforcement becomes so severe that the patient is unable to break free from the compulsion.

Editor in charge: Li Zhi

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