Nigerian youth claim to have OCD due to a general sense of cleanliness. However, how can one actually tell whether they have OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder must be diagnosed by a physician, just like any other mental illness (OCD).
When you have OCD, you experience a pattern of unsettling worries and obsessions (Obsessions), which prompt you to carry out repetitive behaviors (compulsions). These compulsions severely disturb sufferers and obstruct normal life.
These obsessions are distressing or anxious because they are intrusive, frequent, and unwanted.
Ignoring your obsessions won’t help because it just makes you feel worse about yourself.
Finally, you find that in order to feel better, you must engage in compulsive behaviors.
This reinforces the OCD loop and leads to increased ritualistic behavior.
Examples of obsessions are;
- Wondering whether you properly locked the door or turned off the gas
- When things aren’t in order or facing the right way, it causes a lot of stress.
- Thoughts of running your car into a crowd of people
- Feelings of acting improperly in public or yelling obscenities
- Excess worry about dirt or contamination
- Anxiety about uncertainty and ambiguous statements or events
- Requiring symmetry and order in everything
- Having uncontrollable thoughts of hurting others and yourself
- Fear of getting sick after handling stuff that other people have touched
If you have OCD, you may feel compelled to perform repetitive acts. These repetitive behaviors, whether they be mental or physical, are meant to reduce the anxiety brought on by your obsessions or prevent undesirable results.
You might establish regulations or rituals that you must follow when you are dealing with obsessive thoughts in order to control your anxiousness.
You might create some rules or rituals to follow when you are experiencing obsessive thoughts in order to control your anxiety.
These overly obsessive behaviors frequently have nothing to do with the problem they are intended to treat. You can stop having intrusive thoughts by;
Examples of compulsions;
- Arranging things in an orderly manner
- Observing a rigid schedule
- Asking for assurance or clarification constantly
- Scrubbing your hands until your skin feels raw
- Cleaning and laundering constantly
- Checking
- Counting
- Confirming repeatedly that doors are locked
- Repeatedly making sure the stove is turned off
- Recognizing patterns in the numbers
- Reciting a prayer, word, or phrase silently
- Set all of your canned items on their sides.
