Dealing With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Imagine if you couldn't leave the house without locking the door, or imagine if you had to turn the light switch on an off for a number of times before you can relax.
Your life would be filled with all these little eccentricities.
If you have never met an obsessive compulsive before then you can thing these little things that they do are weird and it might stop you from making friends with them, but this is something that they have to do.
They don't do these things because they are weird; they do them because they believe that something awful will happen if they don't do them.
It is a matter of life or death for them and for some people it will ruin their life.
You are probably thinking of a number of different people who have weird habits.
You might have an aunt who washes her hands after touching anything or you might have a cousin who doesn't walk on the cracks in the pavement, but they might have mild cases.
Ask yourself, does your aunt freak out if she doesn't wash her hands or does your cousin think he or she is going to die if they step on the cracks? Whilst you have thought about, you have probably noticed hundreds of times that they have not done the things that they 'need' to do and been fine.
It is likely the case that for them, their habits are something that they like to keep up, but if they don't then their world won't end.
You see, for an obsessive compulsive, their world will end if they don't do these things, or so they believe anyway.
They are terrified and this is the only way that they can manage that fear.
Treatment There are a few treatments available for people if they suffer from OCD, however, the treatment is all dependent on how much the disorder is disrupting the way that they function.
There are two main treatments that people can get:
If your condition is severe, then you may need both treatments at the same time to try and conquer your fears.
Therapy For mild cases of the disorder, treatment is with cognitive behavioural therapy.
This is a form of talking therapy where the therapist will talk you through things that might be bothering you.
Once you are at the root of the problem, the therapist will teach you new ways to think about things and he or she will teach you how to cope with fear.
They can also treat the anxiety head on and give you a treatment similar to that of POCD sufferers.
This involves overexposure to the thing that is giving you the most anxiety.
This is done over a number of sessions so don't worry about having a one hour session and then being bombarded over and over again.
The process will be gradual and done in a controlled setting.
At no point will you be in any physical danger.
It will take a long time and you might find that you need over 10 hours of treatment.
If you do, don't feel downhearted, you aren't going to change overnight and the length of the treatment is perfectly normal.
If you feel embarrassed about how much treatment that you need, then don't tell anyone.
It is no ones business but your own.
Your life would be filled with all these little eccentricities.
If you have never met an obsessive compulsive before then you can thing these little things that they do are weird and it might stop you from making friends with them, but this is something that they have to do.
They don't do these things because they are weird; they do them because they believe that something awful will happen if they don't do them.
It is a matter of life or death for them and for some people it will ruin their life.
You are probably thinking of a number of different people who have weird habits.
You might have an aunt who washes her hands after touching anything or you might have a cousin who doesn't walk on the cracks in the pavement, but they might have mild cases.
Ask yourself, does your aunt freak out if she doesn't wash her hands or does your cousin think he or she is going to die if they step on the cracks? Whilst you have thought about, you have probably noticed hundreds of times that they have not done the things that they 'need' to do and been fine.
It is likely the case that for them, their habits are something that they like to keep up, but if they don't then their world won't end.
You see, for an obsessive compulsive, their world will end if they don't do these things, or so they believe anyway.
They are terrified and this is the only way that they can manage that fear.
Treatment There are a few treatments available for people if they suffer from OCD, however, the treatment is all dependent on how much the disorder is disrupting the way that they function.
There are two main treatments that people can get:
- Medication
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
If your condition is severe, then you may need both treatments at the same time to try and conquer your fears.
Therapy For mild cases of the disorder, treatment is with cognitive behavioural therapy.
This is a form of talking therapy where the therapist will talk you through things that might be bothering you.
Once you are at the root of the problem, the therapist will teach you new ways to think about things and he or she will teach you how to cope with fear.
They can also treat the anxiety head on and give you a treatment similar to that of POCD sufferers.
This involves overexposure to the thing that is giving you the most anxiety.
This is done over a number of sessions so don't worry about having a one hour session and then being bombarded over and over again.
The process will be gradual and done in a controlled setting.
At no point will you be in any physical danger.
It will take a long time and you might find that you need over 10 hours of treatment.
If you do, don't feel downhearted, you aren't going to change overnight and the length of the treatment is perfectly normal.
If you feel embarrassed about how much treatment that you need, then don't tell anyone.
It is no ones business but your own.
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