| 'Obsessive' and 'compulsive' are words of everyday use. All of us sometimes have a thought we can't get rid of. It could be a mental picture of some accident, or a tune running through our heads. The more we try to control ourselves and stop thinking about it, the more the thought keeps coming back. This is a common enough experience, but taken beyond certain limits, it becomes obsessive.
In the same way, we can find ourselves unable to stop doing certain things we don't really want to do. Often this can lead to a pattern of behavior being developed which is very difficult to break out off. It could be, for example, jumping over the cracks in the pavement. These urges when crossing the border from normal into the abnormal, become compulsions.
When obsessions or compulsions become so powerful and so frequent that they interfere with the person's daily life, he or she may have a disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), which is a serious mental illness requiring treatment.
Consider these typical examples of OCD:
- Several times a day, a young mother is seized by horrifying thoughts of harming her infant baby. However hard she tries, she cannot get rid of these thoughts. She refuses to touch any heavy or sharp objects in the house for the fear of using them as weapons.
- A young man is troubled by repeated thoughts that he may have contaminated himself by touching doorknobs, taps and other 'dirty' objects, so spends hours every day washing his hands. His hands have become raw and red. He has no time for anything else in life.
- A boy is tormented with the idea that his foot have been pointing towards the picture of God on the wall of his room either while lying down, sitting or reading, leading him to repeatedly adjust his legs, his position or the furniture, not allowing him to read or sleep.
These are all unfortunate victims of OCD—a mental illness wherein the sufferer is plagued by unwanted, absurd or bizarre thoughts, ideas, images or impulses that intrude into their mind repeatedly. The person may try everything to resist them, but in vain. Sometimes to neutralise their obsessions they indulge in certain meaningless, stereotype rituals or compulsive acts, fully aware it is useless and ineffectual to do so. But these ritualistic acts seem to provide relief from anxiety, though only temporarily. Perhaps the most painful aspect of OCD is the insight the person has about the absurdity and the wastefulness of their 'crazy' thoughts and actions which seem to consume their lives.
For these reasons, people with OCD generally attempt to hide their problem rather than seek help. Often they are successful in concealing their symptoms from friends and colleagues, and this makes their symptoms deeply ingrained. Those with this problem may be otherwise very successful individuals in life and thus the symptoms may remain hidden from others for many years.
Predisposing signs of OCD
- An over-concern with cleanliness is one of the traits of the person affected with
OCD.
- Routine is very important to the person who has a tendency to develop OCD. Everything has to be done in a particular set way. Not to do this makes the person very anxious and upset. This is sometimes carried so far that others living with the person cannot understand why it should matter so much. There is also an over-concern with detail.
- The person becomes so preoccupied with his thoughts and behavior patterns that it lessens interests in social activities, work and family affairs.
- Constant doubts and uncertainties about one's own judgment makes the person depend excessively on other people, always seeking some kind of reassurance.
- Physically, too, OCD takes it's toll on a person. Sleep and appetite can be disturbed, and there can a tendency to get tired easily along with proneness to depression.
- Of course, anyone could have some of these traits; but persistent thoughts, or acts, and disruption of daily life make it a disorder.
(The causes and treatment of Obsessions and Compulsions will be continued next month).
—Dr. Avdesh Sharma is a celebrated mental health expert and Heads 'Media and Public Education Committee' of 'Psychiatry in Developing Countries Section' of World Psychiatric Association.
|
