Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): The Myths and Facts

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is complex and multifaceted, representing a wide array of intrusive, unwanted thoughts leading to excessive actions — so diverse that “OCD” is often misused to reference odd quirks or preferences while downplaying its seriousness. The reality of this mental health condition is that it affects millions of people every day.  

OCD is often so misunderstood that it can make it difficult for people suffering from it to be taken seriously. As such, many misconceptions continue to exist about OCD even when the truth about the disorder is apparent, creating stereotypes and a stigma that may make those with undiagnosed OCD avoid or feel ashamed about seeking help if they’ve asked themselves, “Do I have OCD?” 

Understanding the true depth and nuances of obsessive-compulsive disorder — and debunking some of the more common myths — can help get the facts straight about getting you or a loved one the right OCD treatment.  

What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? 

We all have times when we have negative thoughts that may lead us to act in certain ways. But imagine being wracked with persistent thoughts — to the point of obsessing over them day and night — and the only way to quell them is to perform certain actions over and over again. 

“People with obsessive-compulsive disorder have obsessions (persistent, recurring, unwanted thoughts and urges) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors or mental acts) that the individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession,” states the American Psychiatric Association.  

This is the heart of what obsessive-compulsive disorder is — feeling compelled to act in certain ways just to allay the stress of bothersome urges that won’t go away just by ignoring them, creating a cycle that cannot be broken.  

When these obsessions and compulsions begin to take up at least an hour of your time a day, they become more than habits that are simply difficult to break but debilitating symptoms that can dominate and consume your life. 

OCD is generally considered a chronic, lifelong personality disorder, even though these symptoms can fade and reappear. Someone with OCD can have either obsessions, compulsions, or both. 

The International OCD Foundation says that about 8.2% of adults — one in 40 people — will develop OCD at some point in their lives. The National Institute of Mental Health (NAMI) notes that 1.2% of adults suffered from OCD within the last year. 

What Are Obsessions?   

Obsessions are one part of OCD: intrusive, unwanted, and, more importantly, uncontrollable thoughts, mental images, or urges that are negative in nature and can create feelings of anxiety, distress, disgust, or even fear, placing many sufferers in crisis mode.  

In a person with OCD, these thoughts are not fleeting; they often stick in the mind and feel impossible to control, reappearing even when you try to distract your mind by thinking about something else.  

What are some common obsessions a person with OCD might have?

• Fear of contamination: Someone with OCD may have a phobia of germs, viruses, or diseases. They may avoid shaking hands with others or touching objects, such as doorknobs, that others have touched in fear of catching something, and generally display avoidant behavior of whatever they may fear. 

• Fear of harming oneself or others: A person with harm OCD may have overwhelming fears of becoming aggressive and hurting others. For instance, they may conjure images of attacking their own children even though they would never act on these fears. Or they may worry about becoming violent and being unable to control themselves. They may also become paranoid about being hurt, even in peaceful situations. 

• Persistent doubts: We all have moments when we forget if we turned the stove off or if we locked the front door. However, a person with OCD may develop guilty feelings that they may cause a house fire or let an intruder in. You may obsess over losing objects even when they’re in your possession. 

• Obsessions over perfectionism: Another common type of obsessive-compulsive disorder is a preoccupation with making mistakes or making sure items are orderly and symmetrical, like making sure all the figurines on a shelf or labels on cans in your pantry are facing the same way. This can manifest itself in people with hoarding disorder who become indecisive about what to keep or what to throw away. This type of OCD is rooted in black-and-white thinking, as many people become fixated on certain numbers (or quantities of numbers) or good/bad reasoning.   

• Preoccupations of a sexual nature: People with OCD may develop repeated, obsessive thoughts of a lascivious, aggressive sexual nature, such as pornographic images, rape, incest, or even pedophilia. Others may become preoccupied with their sexual or gender identity. 

Real-event OCD, also called real-life OCD, involves obsessing over actual past events you’ve experienced and becoming overly concerned about whether you handled them correctly or morally. People who suffer from this type of OCD obsess over whether they’re a bad person or not. 

With real-life OCD, you might worry if you could have salvaged a breakup if you said or done something differently or feel ashamed or guilty that you may have committed a crime — and obsess about turning yourself in or being caught. Real-event OCD involves scrutinizing and replaying events in one’s head repeatedly to the point of questioning one’s actions and doubting one’s memories until the truth is distorted. 

What Are Compulsions? 

In OCD, compulsions are the radical, repetitive behaviors in response to one’s obsessions. Even if one’s intentions are innocent enough, where compulsive behavior is meant to reduce the distress caused by intrusive thoughts, they only provide temporary relief. 

Some examples of compulsive behaviors in obsessive-compulsive disorder can include: 

• Cleaning: Someone obsessed over germs and getting contaminated may compulsively, frequently wash their hands multiple times a day, to the point of developing skin dermatitis. They may also clean or organize their living spaces obsessively in an attempt to seek neatness and perfect order. 

• Compulsive checking: One hallmark symptom of OCD is obsessively checking on things that you may feel you’ve been forgetful about, like checking over and over if you shut the windows or if the clothes iron is still on. Irrational fears, like fearing you caused an auto accident, compel someone to keep returning to the scene of the incident.  

• Mental/verbal repetition: OCD can cause some to engage in mental or verbal rituals, like repeating phrases or counting in patterns, turning on and off a light switch an exact number of times, or opening and closing doors or ascending/descending a flight of stairs to avoid perceived dangers. 

• Seeking reassurance: One compulsive behavior is repetitively seeking reassurance from others, such as needing constant validation from a partner that they are loved.  

These behaviors may seem illogical to an outsider, perhaps overbearing, but to an OCD sufferer, they are deeply rooted in the obsessive fears that drive them.

Facts About OCD 

With obsessive-compulsive disorder, it’s important to be informed and know the facts about the condition. Here are three of the most important:

OCD Can Manifest in Different Ways 

One of the most important things about OCD, like many other mental health disorders, is that it is not a one-size-fits-all condition. From hoarding disorder to body dysmorphia, skin-picking to hair-pulling disorder, there are types of OCD that vary depending on a person’s individual situation and mental state. OCD symptoms may begin gradually and can progress over time, and “symptoms generally get worse when you are under greater stress, including times of transition and change,” notes the Mayo Clinic, adding that symptoms can start mild but become so severe over time as to become disabling.  

OCD Affects People from All Walks of Life 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder does not discriminate and can affect people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. (NAMI notes that OCD is more prevalent in females than males, 1.8% to 0.5%, respectively.) Is OCD genetic? A Cleveland Clinic study illustrates that people with a biological parent or sibling with OCD are at a higher risk of developing the condition themselves, with an increased risk if their relative developed it at a younger age.  

OCD Is Often Linked with Other Mental Health Disorders 

OCD is not always an isolated condition; in fact, it’s common for people to experience a co-occurring mental health condition. Examples include: 

• Anxiety disorders 

• Depression  

• Eating disorders 

• Bipolar disorder 

• Autism 

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD 

When one of these overlaps with OCD, it can exacerbate the symptoms of the other, prompt other problems, and complicate the diagnosis and OCD treatment process — just one reason why it’s important to get the facts straight about OCD. 

Common Myths About OCD 

Like many conditions, misconceptions about OCD abound to the point that the myths become the new reality when people aren’t adequately informed about the devastating effects it can have on someone and the people in their lives. Here’s what OCD is not: 

Myth 1: OCD Is Just About Being Neat and Organized 

One of the most pervasive myths about OCD is that it revolves solely around cleanliness or orderliness. But it encompasses so much more beyond just being fussy or uptight. It’s important to remember how the mind of an OCD person can live among preoccupations with violence, harm, and other destructive thoughts and mental images. “People with OCD can have obsessions related to a wide variety of things, including losing control, hurting others, unwanted sexual thoughts, and many more,” says the International OCD Foundation.  

Myth 2: Everyone Is “A Little OCD” Sometimes 

It’s become a cultural meme at this point to jokingly describe oneself as “being a little OCD” sometimes if one gets picky about something or prefers things tidy or symmetrical. It’s a casual, throwaway term that trivializes, marginalizes, and obscures the obsessions and compulsions that can absolutely dominate the life of someone with OCD. “OCD is not a personality quirk or a character trait — it is a very real mental health condition,” says the International OCD Foundation. “People who are diagnosed with OCD cannot simply ‘turn it off.’” The Cleveland Clinic notes that neurological reasons may be at play, indicating that people with OCD’s brains are wired differently than those without the condition. “Imaging studies have shown differences in the frontal cortex and subcortical structures of the brain in people who have OCD,” it states, which can dictate their reasoning and actions. 

Myth 3: People with OCD Can Just Stop Their Behaviors If They Try 

Another fallacy is that someone with OCD can simply stop their compulsive behaviors through sheer willpower. “While stressful situations can make things worse for people with OCD, they do not cause OCD,” says the International OCD Foundation. “People with OCD face severe, often debilitating anxiety over any number of things; this level of extreme worry and fear can be so overwhelming that it gets in the way of their ability to function.” The compulsions of a person with OCD, it notes, “are not activities a person with OCD does because they want to, but rather because they feel they must in order to ease their fears. OCD is not about logic — it is about anxiety and trying to get relief from that anxiety.” 

How Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Treated? 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder treatment follows two primary pathways, especially somewhere like the Royal Life Centers. Effective OCD treatment, first and foremost, needs to be personalized since one person diagnosed with OCD may have an entirely different set of symptoms than another. In addition to traditional talk therapy, holistic therapies like yoga and meditation accentuate recovery to promote well-being. Even though OCD is chronic, it can be helped. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) 

Although there is no way to test for OCD, psychotherapy — specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, and dialectical behavioral therapy, or DBT — is one of the most effective types of OCD treatment. With the help of an OCD therapist, you’ll be able to unpack and understand your obsessive thoughts. Why do they exist? What role do they play? How have compulsive behaviors responded to those obsessions — and how can you work to rid yourself of them? “Over several sessions, CBT can help alter harmful thoughts and stop negative habits, perhaps replacing them with healthier ways to cope,” says the Cleveland Clinic. 

Medication  

Is there proper, effective OCD medication? Thankfully, yes. There are three primary categories of drugs that can contribute to an effective OCD treatment plan, according to the Cleveland Clinic: 

• Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) 

• Selective SRIs (SSRIs) 

• Tricyclic antidepressants 

SSRIs are commonly prescribed to help regulate the brain’s serotonin levels, which play a role in OCD symptoms — these can include fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, and sertraline. 

Finding an OCD Therapist Near Me  

Seeking help for OCD, for yourself or a family member, can seem overwhelming when the signs and symptoms may be there, but you’re unsure how to go about getting OCD treatment or if obsessive-compulsive disorder will be the diagnosis. A rehab organization like the Royal Life Centers, for example, is the perfect place to start since we take a compassionate, patient-centric approach to care — to help guests conquer their conditions and live their best lives. 

Getting help for a mental illness follows a careful continuum of care meant to address every aspect of helping you or a loved one faced with an obsessive-compulsive disorder. But the first step begins with you.  

Honor the power of your voice and begin your journey with us today by calling or contacting us online.