Character with OCD

 

Hello, friends!

This time, I prepared some information about OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER.

OBSESSIONS = unwanted distressing thoughts, mental images, urges 

COMPULSIONS = any behavior done to make the distressing thoughts or feelings go away

Obsessions cause severe distress, pushing the individual to do the compulsion. This leads to a temporary relief.

To go against the obsession causes even bigger distress and even stronger obsessions. 

OBSESSIONS are the opposite of what the individual would want or like - it could be images of animal abuse, incestuous sexual thoughts, urge to harm oneself, etc.

Your brain is convinced that you HAVE to perform the compulsion or else something bad will happen. 

COMPULSIONS can be for example tapping a specific amount of times, repeating a word, excessive cleaning, hoarding etc.

Writing from a perspective of someone interacting with a character with OCD, you may include:

• they notice the compulsions the character does and ask or wonder about it

• they may be asked by the character to do something because their obsession needs it

• they may push on the character to stop having the compulsions, which leads to huge distress

• they may find them weird and judge their behaviors without an idea of why they happen

OCD can be:

• hoarding 

• germophobia and contamination phobia 

• excessive cleaning 

• checking your safety again and again (“did I turn the oven off?”)

• doubting yourself without an end

• mental images and thoughts of things they find disgusting 

• obsessed with one's body and its imperfections (may be similar to body dysphoria)

• religious obsession - fear of offending god, excessive worry about being good 

• perfectionism - concerns of evenness, forgetting important information, performing tasks perfectly, making mistakes

Most people have obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive behaviors at times, but that does not mean that we all have “some OCD.” The obsessions and compulsions must be extreme and consume a lot of time, causing intense distress to the individual.

Most effective treatment for OCD is “exposure and response prevention” therapy and medication.