Good ways to deal with OCD…
Common obsessive thoughts in OCD include:
- Fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others
- Fear of losing control and harming yourself or others
- Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images
- Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas
- Fear of losing or not having things you might need
- Order and symmetry: the idea that everything must line up “just right”
- Superstitions; excessive attention to something considered lucky or unlucky (list provided by HelpGuide) Good ways to deal with OCD.
Common compulsive behaviors in OCD include:
- Excessive double-checking of things, such as locks, appliances, and switches
- Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they’re safe
- Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other senseless things to reduce anxiety
- Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning
- Ordering or arranging things “just so”
- Praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious fear
- Accumulating “junk” such as old newspapers or empty food containers (list provided by HelpGuide)
Understanding The Disease
Our dear friend Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has plenty of characteristics and traits. It’s no wonder it’s called the “doubt disease,” and is so for good reason. The illness is typically a product of nature and nurture, and a stress event (trigger) can ultimately begin and guide the disease. It can help define what insanity is, because you feel as though you’re always losing it through repetitive, redundant behavior. The behavior can become so distracting that it can cause depression. Funny enough though, depression and anxiety disorders are often highly co-morbid with OCD. I want to help by listing some good ways to deal with OCD.
How repetitively redundantly repetitive of you, lad.
It’s pretty self-explanatory: OCD is a mental illness that creates doubt in your mind as a trigger to enact compulsive behaviors through false instinctive impulse. There is the involuntary thought: the obsession. Then there is the compulsion that becomes ritualized through maladaptive coping. This in end becomes the thing therefore justifying the obsession that drove the anxiety leading to the compulsion to begin with — it’s a sick cycle. There is temporary relief once the compulsion is completed, but the process can quickly become exacerbated.
If you can’t catch irony, then irony will let you fall.
A great example of this is a compulsion to wash ones hands all of the time in fear of contamination. If the person touches something else they see as having germs, they may fear contamination of themselves so they overreact irrationally to this trigger by washing again. God forbid they touch their face, they may end up having severe anxiety in response that further escalates the compulsions. This can get worse and worse until the person is taking further action further to the point of complete insanity. The point of recognition getting out of this cycle is moderation in thinking.
Living a good life is only as good as it’s worst “moments.”
This can be difficult to grasp for those struggling with OCD, but it’s the only way of thinking that can potentially help them through this. There are plenty of methods to help reach this point, and they have to be sincere. You can’t fool yourself or your subconscious into believing you’re helping yourself when you’re not. Since OCD can come in many forms, e.g., hand washing, checkers (door checking), doubters (bad will upon self), counting/arranging and hoarding, you should become more aware.
Clinical OCD can be a major downer, even for those who don’t have it.
See here, OCD has two main driving forces, and they’re in the aforementioned name. First you have the obsessions, and next you have the compulsions. The obsession drives the compulsion to be completed, and the compulsion fixates the fear in the person’s eye who feels need to complete it. This unfortunately drives a sick cycle of repetitive behavior that can literally drive a madman insane. There are several sub-types of OCD, but that’s not the focus of this list. I’m going to list below 5 things to do to help manage obsessive compulsive disorder.
A Good Way to Deal with OCD Is to Understand The Triggers
I’m not asking you to consciously fight the disorder, because you will lose. If you know your enemy, you can prevail. The funny thing is, however, that OCD is a jester, and you’re playing in his court. If you think you’re playing by his rules, then you probably are. Don’t fool yourself; however, it can be your resolve to recognize just how much you’re playing with yourself. If you understand that keeping track of your triggers is important, you won’t be wondering the “game” mindlessly. Let’s say that you have a problem with checking if the door is locked — write a mental note. If you think of it again, you can tell yourself you know it as a fact by repeating it in your head and moving on. All of this is pretty self-explanatory; keep going with this no matter the difficulty.
Is it a sign of jest to court an appeal?
I’m simply recommending that you do your research in making sure you understand the brain disease as surely as possible. The brain knowing how to understand and perform mental gymnastics is certainly helpful. This psychological problem stems from a need to control. The mechanism that ends up controlling this ends up make you lose that control entirely. You can certainly say that the entire process is oxymoronic in a sense, and it certainly doesn’t make any. If anything, keeping mental notes will help guide your thought processing. Relabeling what you’re thinking after capturing the thought and training yourself to know it to be an obsession is key.
Another Good Way to Deal with OCD Is to Learn To Resist Compulsions
The first step to take in helping lessen the negativity of OCD is to learn why you’re reacting to things to begin with. If you end up taking a good long hard look at your compulsions, it’d be the best thing you could do to begin with. A nice way to initiate this is to fall into one of your obsessive patterns. Once you do, pay attention to yourself, and give a number rating it’s importance to clear up. The more challenging the thought, the more likely you’ll get caught up in it. The more you repress the thought, the stronger it’ll come back. Also, the more you avoid these thoughts, the scarier they’ll become.
The brain is in a sense a muscle, so it needs resistance, but it’s an organ comprised of grey and white matter, but you must work it anyway. Muscles are organs, but not all organs are muscles.
There are a few surefire ways to accomplish your resistance goals. The main one being exposure response therapy or (ERP). ERP is essentially a form of exposure to your fears. Over time you’ll gradually expose yourself to your fear hierarchy from easiest to most difficult. Although easier said than done, it’s really not that hard to get started. All you have to do is create a fear ladder that functions as a list/spreadsheet for your fears numbered in difficulty.
Good Ways to Deal with OCD Include Challenging Obsessive Thoughts
Did you know that you can actually challenge your way of thinking? Yeah, it’s a real thing, and it’s another way to deal with OCD. Now, just because you have a mental illness and are struggling, doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. It also doesn’t mean that what you’re thinking is happening anywhere outside your head. Many of the thoughts in your head are misrepresentations of what may have happened in reality. Don’t take it too literally, because the more you take it seriously, the worse it can become. Look to solutions without necessary just cause that deems it absolutely necessary. This is part of what this illness feeds on.
Man, this all sounds like a horrible draggggg… .
To start with, you can write down your obsessive thoughts — make a list. Not only will writing it down make your realize how redundant your thought process is, it’ll help you lessen the power of it. Remember, a mental disorder is simply a configuration of brain functioning in a certain way. Creating a worry time is also a successful way to deal with it. Think of it as compartmentalizing a worry timeout period for yourself so as to go on with your day. Make notes if you have to, because it can certainly help.
Yeah, good luck trying to figure out your mechanical mind.
Lastly, recounting obsessions by recording and replaying them can also be useful. Sometimes it’s simply about hearing yourself until the distress goes away. If you repeat something enough times, it may be a good way to gain a grasp of it. It may just sound a little too off-putting and ridiculous to continue the process. It may all just become a waste of valuable time. Pick up your phone and give it a try.
Good ways to deal with OCD…
Reach Out For Support
OCD symptoms can worsen over time if you don’t take action. Knowing that you can talk with someone can always come in handy. If you feel distressed, you always should have someone you know you can trust, rely on and talk with. Talking is certainly important, and it’s easy to overlook. Most folks choose to bottle things up for a period, and although unhealthy, is a product of society. Even if things are bottled up, a simple talk can always help with symptoms. The more you share your thoughts, the less the fear they cause will hold you back.
Sir, you’re under arrest for aggravated assault to your brain. You must see a therapist immediately.
Symptoms of OCD are often aggravated when in social isolation This is why folks go to therapy: it’s regularly scheduled and you can talk with someone who listens and knows how to help. Even if they are paid to do it, doesn’t mean they don’t care, but it’d help to know for sure. Most therapists help, and if you can’t find one, there are other options. There are always emergency hotlines you can use to talk with someone there. In addition, you can always join an OCD support group online or in person. Sharing your experience is important for a healthy mind, so keep in touch with loved ones as well.
Good ways to deal with OCD…
Manage Stress
If you know how to escape a distressing situation, you probably know that self-soothing coping mechanisms are useful. Meditative techniques work, as well as soothing via any one of the five senses works wonders. Learning how to relax yourself is very important in becoming successful at working through this illness. The main objective is to destress and not distress the body and mind. If you learn techniques in understanding feelings and how to overcome them, it’s great and will end up helpful.
Isn’t it always easier said than done?
The best thing to do is to check out some relaxation techniques like meditation. Simply sitting there allowing thoughts to pass can certainly help sooth a long spell of prevalent OCD symptoms. Listen to some music to help self-sooth, or maybe even play some music to get out of your funk. It’ll be vitally useful in helping the body help overcome the mind, even if you don’t want to.
Good ways to deal with OCD…
Life Style Changes
Yes, if you didn’t know, there are certain changes to your current lifestyle you can make to improve your condition. If you’re already doing them, then great, there are plenty of solutions out there. If not, the main ones like getting exercise, enough sleep, and avoiding the consumption of alcohol and cigarettes can help greatly. I know you’ve heard these in conjunction a lot, but they are literally life savers.
I remember that candy, and trust me, it was a literal life saver, except it got stuck in my teeth.
Exercise is a good anti-anxiety source of stress relief for just about anything. Going out for a walk is a good enough start, and after a while, you can make progress by increasing the frequency and intensity of said exercise. In addition to exercise, healthy habits of avoidance like evading cigarette smoke and avoiding a bad diet and drinking alcohol. Meditation is also a good form of stress relief that can greatly increase your standard of living. The last thing that can come in handy is a balanced and healthy diet. Intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet are a good place to start, as well as maintaining proper nutrition, i.e., maintaining proper macros and nutrients.
The threat of having illness can be terrifying being a hypochondriac.
OCD is a vicious illness that can hurt not only you, but your loved ones as well. Make sure to keep an eye on yourself or others that may be struggling with this, because a helping hand always helps. Make sure to follow at least some of the advice I’ve given you to take actual control over your life, and not the pretend control this complete lack of it can “give you.”
If all else fails somehow, you can always go to therapy or take the requisite mediation prescribed by your doctor. Doctors will end up recommending exposure response and cognitive therapy, as well as in a group or family setting. All of the things listed above can go in conjunction with therapy or whatnot and usually are since therapy is generally a part of the process. If anything, these should propel you to a much healthier mental well-being, but try not to get your hopes up too high. It’ll take some hard work, but you’ll get there.
Fare thee well.
While the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder usually occurs during adolescence or young adulthood, younger children sometimes have symptoms that look like OCD. However, the symptoms of other disorders, such as ADHD, autism, and Tourette’s syndrome can also look like obsessive-compulsive disorder. A thorough medical and psychological exam is essential before any diagnosis is made.
OCD: https://www.webmd.com
Understandings triggers helps bear results.If you learn to resist your compulsions, you’ll find a straight path forward.Challenge your thoughts, and you’ll see the light.Obviously, don’t be afraid to share feelings and ask for help.Manage your stresses by not allowing yourself to go too deep.Get yur dang exercise and avoid the smokies.- Voila!