Three primary elements characterize Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD):
- Obsessions – These include intrusive and overpowering thoughts. Obsessions also include images or urges that persistently interfere with everyday thought processes.
- Compulsions – These compulsions are the habitual behaviors and mental checks and balances that OCD sufferers perform to quell their obsessive thoughts. Compulsions are designed to alleviate the anxiety of obsessive thoughts.
- Emotions – People struggling with OCD tend to endure a prolonged sense of heightened anxiety, angst, distress, and discomfort.
The individual’s behavior outwardly identifies OCD. This mental health disorder is associated with actions designed to alleviate obsessive thoughts. These symptoms include habitual checking and rechecking, intrusive thoughts, ruminations about metaphysical, philosophical, religious, or life-changing concepts, a focus on the extreme organization such as symmetry, neatness, and order, as well as a sharp focus on contamination-related issues. Depending on the specific OCD symptoms, OCD varies slightly between individuals.
We can generally identify ten types of OCD behaviors* to look out for, notably:
- Avoidant behavior
- Neutralizing thought behavior
- Hoarding behavior
- Continually seeking reassurance
- Counting and numbers
- Checking and rechecking
- Hand washing and general cleanliness
- Arranging and ordering
- Mental repetition of words and phrases
- Sexual orientation behavior
*This is not an exhaustive list of OCD behaviors to look out for. However, it covers a large chunk of the population suffering from OCD.
Avoidant behavior
Avoidant behavior is not wanting to face a situation, place, people, or object that creates heightened anxiety. The object of avoidance is often a trigger for OCD. People with this mental health disorder tend to prevent distress by avoiding the trigger. For example, if you have OCD related to cleanliness, you might not want to go into an environment perceived as unclean. Or, if you have an irrational fear of contracting disease and germs, you might avoid back alleys and the urban metropolis.
Neutralizing Thought Behavior
Our thoughts are powerful, even without OCD. People who practice neutralizing thought behavior attempt to counter negative/harmful scary/ideas with other thoughts designed to neutralize them. With OCD sufferers, the neutralizing views present as a mental tug-of-war with no end in sight.
Hoarding Behavior
People who collect objects are not necessarily hoarders. The act of hoarding is a serious mental health disorder that is common among OCD sufferers. Hoarding is not about collecting items of value and cherishing them; it is about collecting massive amounts of junk that need to be disposed of. ‘Hoarding: Buried Alive‘ typifies the type of behavior among hoarders. While certainly common among OCD sufferers, hoarding is actually classified as its own disorder according to the DSM-5 manual. Nonetheless, hoarding fits in with OCD, irrespective of the reasons for hoarding.
Continually Seeking Reassurance
People with OCD often seek reassurance about the very things that are causing them distress. For example, fear of contamination, fear of leaving the appliances on when leaving home, or fear of impropriety or neglect with a loved one can cause tremendous angst. OCD sufferers often require reassurances to quell fears that are not based on reality. This can be tremendously exhausting for friends, relatives, and colleagues.
Counting & Numbers
Counting and numbers are common compulsions with OCD sufferers. In its simplest form, this behavior involves counting to achieve mental calm. Then, a series of actions are conducted to achieve peace of mind. A person with OCD may perform a ritual several times to alleviate the stress.
For example, if you have OCD and you are worried that your partner will not make it home in time for a dinner reservation, you might perform a ritual 15 times. Or, you may have a mental calculation of how many steps you need to take to get to the kitchen to get a drink of water. If you don’t get to the kitchen in precisely that number of steps, you might continue performing the action until you achieve that count.
Checking and Rechecking
Given the pervasive, persistent, and gnawing nature of OCD thoughts and concerns, it’s common for people with this disorder to check and recheck things constantly. Did you lock the doors? Did you turn off all the lights? Did you make sure that the dogs are inside? Did you check all your answers on your test before submitting them? Because of the uncertainty, doubt, and invasive thoughts, checking and rechecking behavior is common with OCD.
Hand Washing & General Cleanliness
There are many reasons why people with OCD are so concerned with hand washing and general cleanliness. The most common OCD disorders are those involving fear of contamination, germs, and disease.
This compulsion can be detrimental to the health and well-being of the individual because it can lead to peculiar avoidant behavior, over-washing, and detrimental skin conditions (because of all the chemicals, including bleach, that OCD patients may use). Not only that, hand washing and general cleanliness routines with an OCD patient can make it impossible to hold down a regular job, stay in a relationship, or function in society.
Arranging and Ordering
This is often categorized as symmetry and orderliness. To quell the chaos created by OCD, individuals try hard to arrange all aspects of their lives in an orderly fashion. Unfortunately, this compulsive behavior does not assuage the mental component of OCD.
Mental Repetition of Words and Phrases
Mike the actions that people with OCD routinely perform, mental repetition of words and phrases is designed to reduce anxiety, fear, and concern. When this is done with other people, it is an attempt to communicate better, to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved.
Sexual Orientation Behavior
There are many different strains of OCD vis-à-vis sexual orientation. Some of the more commonly occurring forms include Pedophile OCD and Homosexual OCD. For example, in the latter category, an individual may fear a straight person being gay, but it could just as easily refer to a gay person fearing they may become straight.
These are the ten most commonly observed behaviors with OCD. Fortunately, OCD can be managed and the obsessions and compulsions tempered to help people live a relatively calm life. Various treatments are readily available, including medication, therapy, surgical, and non-surgical procedures.
