Obesessive Compulsive Disorder

OCD is an anxiety disorder consisting of intrusive, distressing, repetitive thoughts that make a person want to perform different types of actions or rituals.  Normally OCD is diagnosed when the person does the rituals for more than one hour in a day.  It is not clear how OCD starts but here are some possibilities:

• It is genetic and another member of the family may have it.
• It started after an infection although the research for this in the UK is still not conclusive.
• It began after a significant event.

Often OCD will be based around the need to clean things or yourself, for example washing hands, or the need to count, re-arrange or check locks, light switches etc, and if you are distracted you may need to start again.  The more stressed or anxious you feel, the more rituals you may need to perform. OCD is a bully!

There is a difference between feeling anxious and doing rituals and enjoying doing things that some people may think a bit strange but you don’t.  Everyone is an individual, as we all are, and many of us do some unusual things - I know I do - so don’t worry; you are perfectly normal.