Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is no joke. DOLLY investigates what happens when your thoughts take control of you.
Are you always worried you’ve left your hair straightener on? Felt you’ve forgotten your phone even though you remember putting it in your bag moments ago? Or not wanted to touch the ATM because you think it’s covered in germs? Well, you’re not alone – millions of people around the world experience these kinds of obsessive thoughts.
But what if these aren’t the only things you worry about? And what if your worries start taking over your life? You could be suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Kelly’s story
Seventeen-year-old Kelly knows just how debilitating OCD can be. “I’d always been a little OCD – I liked things to be in order to the point where I’d spend 40 minutes packing my pencil case with exactly the right number of pens in it, or making sure I chewed my food on the right side, then left, then right again,” she says. “Then, I became stuck on the number five. I had to do everything five times otherwise I’d be really anxious and not be able to rest. Light switches, locking the door, brushing my teeth, making the bed, sending a text – everything had to be done five times. My friends and family didn’t understand and I felt like a freak.”
The 411
So, what exactly is OCD? Professor Michael Kyrios from The Swinburne University of Technology explains, “Sufferers of OCD often find themselves involuntarily performing ritualistic acts in reaction to invasive thoughts. To reduce the anxiety of these thoughts, sufferers perform rituals.”
Signs and symptoms of OCD vary from person to person, but these are some of the most common ones:
• Fear of dirt and/or germs.
• Fear of causing harm to yourself or others.
• Fear of losing things or not having things you need close by.
• Fixation on things being in order or symmetrical.
• Checking and double checking things such as locks, appliances, switches or the time.
• Always checking on loved ones to make sure they’re safe.
• Counting, tapping or repeating certain words or doing senseless things to try to make yourself feel better.
• Spending an excessive amount of time washing and cleaning.
• Arranging things so they’re “correct”.
When it’s time to get help
OCD isn’t just something you have to “put up with”. While most of us suffer a little from OCD, if you feel like it’s starting to take over your life, it’s time to get help. For Kelly, the breaking point in her battle with OCD came on the night of her Year 10 formal. “It was supposed to be an amazing night,” she says. “But I’d do my hair perfectly and then have to take it out and do it another four times, then the same with my make-up… I’d put it on and then have to take it off and do it all over again. I was in my dress with a red-raw face from the amount of times I’d removed my make-up and I felt miserable.”
After her formal, Kelly told her parents and it was then that she was able to get the help she needed. She began seeing a therapist who taught her different ways and coping mechanisms to get a grip on her OCD. “I can handle my compulsions now,” she says. “I feel like I’m getting my life back!”
What you can do
We asked psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz to give DOLLY readers some advice.
Cassie, 16: I feel like my hands are always dirty and I have to wash them or else I’ll get really sick. How can I stop these thoughts?
JEFFREY ADVISES: “Try looking at your thoughts differently, so when you feel that way, say to yourself, ‘I don’t think or feel my hands are dirty, I’m having an obsession that my hands are dirty.’ Recognise that the thoughts you’re having are a result of OCD and aren’t necessarily reality.”
Jolie, 16: Whenever I leave the house, I lock the door over and over again. I feel like it’s getting out of control, but if I don’t do it I feel really anxious.
JEFFREY ADVISES: “Realise these are false messages from the brain, which is your OCD. Keep telling yourself, ‘It’s not me, it’s the OCD.’”
Stephanie, 15: I feel the need to keep ringing my mum to check she’s okay. I get these awful feelings that something’s happened to her and if she doesn’t answer her phone I start to have panic attacks. Sometimes I’ll call her five times a day. Help!
JEFFREY ADVISES: “Work around these thoughts by focusing your attention on something else. Throw yourself into your study, play Angry Birds or go for a walk. Just because your thoughts are there, it doesn’t mean you have to listen to them. Acknowledge their presence, then move on.”
If you or someone you know needs help with OCD, check out headspace.org.au.
