Thanks for sharing Nigel. Although everyone worries or feels the need to double-check things on occasion, the symptoms … It’s only through checking (and often checking many, many times) that this terrible anxiety can be alleviated. OCD has several subtypes, so make sure you know what differentiates and defines them before you start writing about characters with this mental health disorder. If anything, it can make it worse. There are two main focuses with this subtype of OCD: the questioning of your sexual preferences and the fear that you’ll act on those preferences in an inappropriate and/or harmful way. They can include: The compulsion listed at the start of this section was pretty vague, mainly because it differs from person to person, but that’s not a great help if you want to write about this. Dynamic content will not be displayed. ), Ritualised praying, reading of religious texts and/or repeating of specific verses, Unreasonable acts of self-sacrifice (e.g., donating large amounts of money or possessions), Avoiding religious places, figures or practices, Avoiding things associated with immorality or sin (e.g., types of clothes, certain numbers, films related to certain themes, etc. Treatments, including cognitive behavioural therapy and antidepressant medicines, can often help. Some people with OCD may also have or develop other serious mental health problems, including: depression – a condition that typically causes lasting feelings of sadness and hopelessness, or a loss of interest in the things you used to enjoy For instance, some sufferers with this problem would be concerned with how this would make them look to others or that if they aren’t good in this area, they have nothing. If you have tried standard OCD medication and not had success, augmentation therapy can help. Obvously, there is more that you can do along these lines. The treatment recommended will depend on how much it's affecting your life. Let’s expand upon it and look at some of the more common types of compulsion. Again, please remember that simply feeling the need to arrange things in just the right way does not mean you have this subtype of OCD. People of all ages can get OCD, including children. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition where you have obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviours (things you feel you must do) or both. These are not the cliched, one-size-fits-all solutions that some people think they are. But if you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors become so consuming they interfere with your daily life. tell yourself it's okay if you make mistakes and force yourself to continue writing. Are any of these subtypes new to you or were you familiar with some already? Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, also known as OCD, is one of the world’s most widespread and potentially harmful diseases out there. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common form of anxiety disorder involving distressing, repetitive thoughts that can affect anyone regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. I hope this gives you a bit of a start. Students with OCD may appear to be daydreaming, distracted, disinterested, or even lazy. These intrusive thoughts can make you feel scared, ashamed, guilty, disgusted or embarrassed, and generally focus on the thing you are most afraid of being or doing, which is why these thoughts have such an impact. Rather than objects being dirty, with mental contamination, you feel unclean. You’ve already discovered this is impossible. This form of OCD is called ‘magical thinking’ because it involves an illogical thought pattern in which unrelated actions or events are linked together. Unfortunately, this contributes to destroying the flow of what you are reading, so the feeling of understanding becomes even more unattainable. Symptoms Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive activity. It can be mental too. However, that’s usually far from the case. It’s an anxiety-related mental health condition characterised by “obsessions”—recurring and persistent thoughts, images or urges that are unwanted and can cause you great anxiety—and “compulsions”—the repetitive behaviours or mental acts you perform to reduce or neutralise your discomfort. The obsessions in this form of OCD often relate to certain themes, such as intrusive magical, violent, sexual or religious thoughts, with the compulsions taking a more mental, non-visible form. No one should do exposure and response prevention! As for your OCD interfering with your writing, I think the answer to that lies in things you've probably heard before: meditation, exercise, regular sleep, deep breathing, playing an instrument, etc. If I gave you five guesses as to why I spent a good chunk of high school and college unable to read, I bet that most wouldn’t be able to guess why. Another name for this form of OCD is Scrupulosity and it isn’t just limited to unwanted religious thoughts; it includes intrusive moral and ethical thoughts too. The problem with simply limiting time is that you try to still do the work perfectly, but faster. trying to ‘think’ oneself free of ocd within the problem and using the problem’s own parameters, is not a reasonable option. So what are some of the common obsessions found in Scrupulosity? The anxiety caused by the obsessions in this subtype of OCD can compel you to arrange and rearrange objects until they’re ‘just right’, which can take an inordinate amount of time, drain you mentally and physically, and result in several other negative repercussions, like being late for work or appointments. Nope. Almost everyone with the writing problem hates doing this and gets caught up in writing very good first drafts. It could be: In response to these violent intrusive thoughts, you might perform compulsions like locking away sharp objects or not cooking for loved ones, or you might avoid certain situations or people, like public places or your children. For example, timers. Wannabe 7 April 2013 - 22:41 . Forum User. It is estimated that OCD occurs in around 1.1% of the general population in the UK. 1. These triggers can be even more difficult to avoid than those of contact contamination, something you should keep in mind if writing about a character with this subtype of OCD. So what is obsessive-compulsive disorder? They may make you feel anxious, disgusted or uncomfortable.You might feel you can't share them with others or that there is something wrong with you that you have to hide. OCD responds well to psychological treatments including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure and response prevention (ERP). I merge the science of psychology with the art of storytelling over on Writerology. Want to chat? Built on Perch. As you can imagine, many people have dropped out of school as the result of these issues. OCD can be very distressing and can interfere with your day-to-day life. I then struggled with the pen, and that brought a whole lot of problems of its' own... You do ever so well though... Keep posting! In cases of OCD-driven academic perfectionism, tutors cannot fix the problem and may, in some cases, inadvertently worsen it. 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