Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Cheryl Gowin and Dennis Gowin.  Call us at our counseling practice with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions at 434-808-2637.

Do you repeatedly check your door to make sure it’s locked?  Do you constantly use a hand sanitizer because you are overcome with worry about germs?  Are you constantly straightening up everything, even at a friend’s home?  Do you worry about horrible things happening?  Do you find it impossible to throw anything away?

If this describes you, you may be struggling with obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Although it may feel like it, you are not alone.  About three percent of Americans struggle with some kind of obsessive thinking and compulsive behavior.

So what is an obsession?  An obsession is a life dominating thought, impulse, or image that you find intrusive, inappropriate, and anxiety inducing.  Common obsessions that many people struggle with include a fear of germs, repeated, overwhelming doubts, a need to have a set order, a strong focus on doing a task just right, thoughts of uncontrollable impulses, and hoarding.

If you have an obsession, it is likely that you use compulsive behavior to reduce the anxiety generated by your obsession.  For example, if you struggle with a contamination obsession, you might wash your hands thirty times a day.  If you worry about the oven being turned off, you might check and recheck it to convince yourself that it is really turned off.

OCD is an anxiety problem and research shows that the brain of someone actively struggling with OCD functions in a unique manner.  Counseling utilizing cognitive-behavior therapy or exposure and response prevention therapy, which specifically targets the obsessive thinking and compulsive behavior, has been shown to have the best track record of success.  These counseling methods help a person train himself/herself to respond differently to their obsessions.

Obsessions reflect emotional components.

The need for certainty is perhaps the most common underlying emotional component.  You feel unable to live with any bit of uncertainty.  You want total assurance.  You need to be 100% certain the door is locked or that you have done everything possible to avoid germs.  Compulsive behaviors such as checking and washing are attempts to erase doubt and increase a sense of certainty.  But what happens?  Reducing or controlling anxiety becomes an end unto itself and so begins a vicious cycle.  How do I know I’ve cleaned the floor enough?  How can I be sure?  Better to mop it one more time than to experience this gnawing anxiety.

Another emotional component is an overactive sense of responsibility.  When you have a thought that you might do something wrong, you feel the same weight of anxiety, responsibility, and guilt as if you actually did the deed.  Perfectionism or the need to have/do everything just right is also a way of reacting to an overactive sense of responsibility.

Proven techniques to help deal with OCD have been developed.  Here are several techniques used to overcome obsessions.

Meditate with the goal of finding ways to build your confidence and internal peace.  Psalms 23, 46, 62, 91, 104, 121, and 139 are reassuring passages on which to meditate.

Make a list of fifty things about which you are certain.  This list may start very general, such as gravity will make things fall.  Change the list periodically with the goal of building your trust.

Delay reacting to your compulsive thoughts/behaviors.  Refraining from acting out a compulsion weakens the obsession-compulsion cycle.  Research shows that if, instead of immediately trying to quiet the anxiety induced by your obsessive thought, you hold off on doing your typical compulsive behavior for 20 minutes or more, you will reduce the frequency and insistency of your obsessive thoughts.

Focus on shortening the time spent in a compulsive ritual; shorten the time spent organizing your desk.

Don’t try to go it alone.  Find a support group that can help.  Struggling alone will not help.  If the obsessions and compulsions are severe enough to interfere with your daily life and relationships, find a counselor who will walk this road of change with you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  John 14:27

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Cheryl Gowin and Dennis Gowin.  Call us at Discovery Counseling in Farmville with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions, our phone number is 434-808-2637.