Common Obsessions
These are persistent thoughts, urges, pictures or doubts which repeatedly come into your mind. These obsessions make it hard to focus on what you are doing and can be very frightening, graphic or disturbing. It can feel like you have no control over these thoughts and that you need to hide how you are feeling from others. It is important to remember that thoughts are just thoughts and that we have control over our body and actions. Our brains are more powerful that most computers and in some cases we cannot control what is going on in our heads.
Let's have a look at some of the common obsessions that people with OCD suffer from:
- Fear of causing or failing to prevent harm.
- This can be worries about harming someone by not being careful enough such as hitting someone with your car.
- This may also be worries that you will harm someone by losing control such as pushing someone in front of a car. - Intrusive thoughts, images and impulses.
- These may be violent thoughts or images which can make you feel that you are a dangerous person.
- You may have thoughts that go against your religious beliefs.
- You can have intrusive thoughts and doubts about your relationships. This can lead to you ending relationships to stop the thoughts.
- Sexual intrusive thoughts and images can also occur. These may be about children, family members or being sexually aggressive. These thoughts can cause even further anxieties that you are a bad, violent person. - Fear of contamination.
- This might related to germs, dirt or faeces.
- You may worry that you or others are contaminated and are spreading disease.
- This may also be mental contamination such as feeling dirty after being triggered by a person who has harmed you. - Fears and worries about order and symmetry.
- You may be afraid that someone bad will happen if everything is not right e.g. not clean, not in order, not symmetrical.
Common Compulsions
Compulsions are repetitive activities you feel that you have to do because you believe that they help to lower you anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts. They may provide a short-term relief but the obsessions will return. Here are some common types of compulsion and examples:
- Rituals.
- Washing your hands, body or items very often.
- Touching objects in a certain order or at a certain time.
- Arranging objects in a particular way. - Checking.
- Checking doors and windows very often to ensure that they are locked.
- Checking your body or clothes for contamination.
- Checking to see how you body is responding to intrusive thoughts.
- Checking your memory to confirm that an intrusive thought did not actually happen.
- Checking your route to or from somewhere to confirm that you didn't cause an accident. - Correcting thoughts.
- Repeating a word, name or phrase out loud or in your head.
- Counting to a certain number.
- Replacing an intrusive thought with a different image. - Reassurance.
- Repeatedly asking others to tell you that everything is okay.
