OCD

Do you have the same thought continually entering into your mind despite trying to ignore it? Or do you find that you can’t relax unless you’ve completed a specific behaviour or pattern? Sometimes, thoughts can become so intrusive that they start to take up a large part of our day, and affect other aspects of our lives. If this is the case, you may have some of the symptoms associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD.

OCD can be a very debilitating if left to develop without treatment, and can start take over almost every aspect of a person’s life. It involves two key aspects – obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, images, urges or beliefs that continually occupy the mind despite trying to resist or remove them. Compulsions are the resulting behaviour or act, and often provide relief from the intrusive obsessive thoughts, but at the same time, impair the person’s ability to function.

Some common obsessions include:

• Fear of contamination
• Fear of losing control of your behaviour
• Uncontrollable sexually explicit or violent thoughts
• A strong need to have everything ordered

However, there’s no limit to what these thoughts and behaviours can include. If you have any sort of belief or behaviour that is negatively impacting your life, or the lives of those close to you, don’t cope with it alone any longer.

There are a number of ways that a psychologist can educate you on OCD, and work through the symptoms – at your own pace. Some of the ways we can assist include, but are not limited to:

• Helping to identify where these thoughts stem from and challenging them in a way that reduces their effect
• Testing out your beliefs in small incremental steps to reduce the anxiety that you feel about them
• Relaxation training
• Building up your social support and recreational activities to help you overcome these issue outside of the allocated sessions as well