OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, in psychological terms is a disorder which often characterises recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations or obsessions that make people do a particular thing repetitively. These behaviours could range from excessive washing of hands, checking the gas knob repeatedly, or cleaning too much. “It’s like you have two brains - a rational brain and an irrational brain. And they’re constantly fighting.” -Emilie Ford “OCD is like a bully stuck inside your head and nobody else can see it.” -Krissy McDermott These two quotes are from people who’ve known what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder makes people feel. The inability to function properly, not being able to perform societal activities, not having enough friends or romantic relationships are situations that OCD diagnosed people have to encounter. Personally, I have heard some lay people saying that it is in a way beneficial if a person has OCD. For they think of OCD as an extreme cleaning ritual to say it’s good if people clean obsessively. It is particularly important for us to know that OCD as a psychological disorder is so much more than just a cleaning habit or excessive hand-washing. For example, a woman would repeatedly check if she has locked the door of her house before going out to her office until the time that it is time consuming and tiring. People diagnosed with OCD have this constant struggle between reality and what their obsessive thoughts want them to do. They are in constant state of anxiety of what would happen if they do not respond to their compulsive behaviours and eventually surrender to them by performing the actions. The treatment for OCD consists of both medication and psychotherapy depending upon the severity of the symptoms. There are some day-to-day tips that people diagnosed with OCD can follow: Get some exercise: It has been found that getting some exercise helps with the symptoms of OCD. The exercise can be done alongside the treatment for OCD. A pilot study found that people with OCD who do moderate intensity aerobic exercises in addition to taking medicines or psychotherapy get better results after a few months. Exercise can cause the release of growth factors which may create new connections by the neurons. In such a way exercising can help with reduction in symptoms of OCD and may also promote the release of endorphins, the feel-good hormone. Try to understand your anxiety: Often when people with OCD have anxiety, they seem to know that it’s unrealistic but they aren’t able to fight these anxious thoughts and give in to them. It would be best to know what situations make you nervous. Try to identify the situations or the triggers that intensify your agitation. After identifying the trigger, note it down and see if it is a realistic worry or not. This noting down of the whole process may help you realise whether your thought is real or not and can calm your anxiety. Maintain a proper sleep schedule: Anxiety can make it hard to sleep. Sleep plays a really important role in maintaining good mental health. Instead of wasting your time on your mobile phone and lying awake, take a nice warm water bath, dim the lights, swap the time to look at the screen with 10 minutes of relaxing music. This might help you attain a peaceful and long night's sleep. Accept that OCD is interfering with your life: Acceptance is the key to everything and also like Carl Jung said, “We cannot change anything unless we accept it.” One way to acceptance would just be surrendering to the fact that many things in life cannot be the way we always want them to be. Becoming an accepting person, you will accept that you will let go of the unwinnable struggle to control your obsessions and in turn focus on ways to manage OCD effectively using evidence based treatment options such as Cognitive behaviour therapy, Rational emotive behaviour therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy etc. Try to relax yourself: Relaxation techniques such as mindfulness meditation, yoga and massage can help a lot with stressful symptoms of OCD, by practising these things one can detach themselves from the negative and stressful thoughts they’re having and focus on the here and now. Manage your stress: Managing the amount of stress you feel can also be another tip to follow. Stress in OCD acts as a major stressor for all the compulsion in people with OCD. According to the transactional model of stress, “The perception of our ability to cope with the demands of the environment is the key to whether we will experience stress or not.” Some basic ways to manage stress could be turning to friends or family for support, to participate in the activities that you love, focusing on the positives rather than negatives of your life, try to make a feel-good box about yourself which includes all the things that make you feel grounded and calm. These could include your favorite pictures, quotes, goal list, scented candles etc.

Posted 2 years ago