Mental health awareness: All about obsessions and compulsive disorder

Rakesh has been unconsciously repeating things for the past year. He does not answer calls immediately; if the same thing is repeated, he answers with irritation and anger. These days, he spends a lot of time in the bathroom, taking almost an hour to bathe. This is a puzzle and very disturbing to the parents of this software professional, who has a brilliant educational background and a high-paying job.

This has been happening for almost a year and has become intolerable for the family. He has also received notices from his manager about his performance. The parents decided it was time to seek help from a mental health professional. With this background, they approached me.

After a thorough interaction with Rakesh and his parents and with the support of a clinical psychologist, he was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), is characterised by unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead to compulsive behaviours. It is a mental health condition with intrusive thoughts and distressing thoughts that lead to repetitive behaviours performed to alleviate anxiety or prevent a feared outcome.

Types of OCD:

1. Contamination/Washing, 2. Doubt/Checking, 3. Ordering/Arranging, And 4. Unacceptable/Taboo thoughts. Fears of contamination, compulsive checking for completion, fears of harming others, ordering, and arranging objects in specific ways, and aggressive, violent, or sexual thoughts.

Treatment: He sees a psychologist for weekly therapy sessions. CBT is the most helpful therapy to come out of OCD+ medication.

Reasons for getting OCD:

• Genetics, hereditary, brain chemistry, traumatic life events, fearful disorganised child attachment styles.