OCD Treatment – 7 Effective Ways That Can Help

OCD – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is said to be an anxiety disorder, and if the truth be spoken then it also is a case of mental illness in extreme cases. Many people are affected by this disorder but most of them are either unaware about such a thing, or they do not want to accept the fact! While OCD can prove to be a lot more dangerous than it may sound, people don’t seek OCD treatment or therapy. Why would they want to make it public, if they themselves are in denial? OCD can be broken down into 2 major divisions- obsessions and compulsions, which you must have noticed in the name itself.

Source – Andy Dosdall (Flickr)

Obsessions are thoughts, images in your mind, visuals of the past or scenes or sounds inside your head, that causes mental disturbance and creates anxiety. Obsessions prevent you from staying stable. You try and push them away from your mind. But doing so with one such thought gives entry to another thought. This series of unpleasant and unwelcome thoughts create irritation and can force you into taking involuntary defensive actions!

Compulsions are the actions that you take to lower the anxiety or instability caused by the obsession. It can be any kind of awkward repetitive task that you perform in order to ensure that everything is normal! We will discuss some examples about it.

Obsessive thoughts in OCD can be like :

• fear of getting crushed under heavy vehicles while driving
• getting bad luck on changing a daily routine
• becoming excessively spiritual due to the fear of god
• wanting everything to be symmetric
• striving hard to bring discipline in all respects of life

Compulsive actions in OCD can be like :

• blinking even number of times at a time
• saying things twice out loud for self satisfaction
• praying too much out of religious fear
• making other people repeat their actions for no good reason
• skipping a song on playlist to avoid a single line of curse

Why is OCD treatment essential?

OCD treatment can be required, depending on what kind of obsessions you have and how much you have control over it. Your OCD can have minimal to drastic effect on your personal and professional life. It is not limited to you, but your behavior can even affect the people around you. Few of the ways it can affect your life are :

1. You end up wasting too much time fulfilling your compulsions, which you could otherwise invest in something worthwhile.
2. You publicly embarrass yourself and let people think you are a freak, and still you continue obeying your compulsive actions.
3. Your obsessive habits can annoy your family as they find it highly irritating to cope up with your unexplained behavior.
4. Your relationship can take a negative toll if you start giving more importance to your OCD than your partner’s opinions.

OCD Treatment – Is there any?

No, and Yes! There is no proven and guaranteed treatment to eradicate OCDs that you might have. But there are certain therapies available that can lower the impact of OCDs to such low level that people can lead a normal life without much problems. Here are some effective ways that can help you keep you OCD under control.

1. Cognitive therapy

It is a psychotherapy which is based on how an individual thinks about or analyses a situation and how he/she decides to react to it. It does not comprise of a specific technique, rather it combines multiple treatments based on patient’s need. Compassion therapy, solution oriented therapy, optimistic psychology and interpersonal psychotherapy are some techniques that come under it. It is the best professional help one can seek, but even this does not ensures complete treatment of the OCD problem.

2. Meditate

One of the best OCD treatment is meditation. It helps to de-clutter your mind of rubbish ideas and keep those distracting thoughts at bay. Your focus increases as you keep practicing meditation over the time, and you gain mental strength. Majority of people face a hard time focusing their thoughts, and they give up too soon. But meditation is an art at which you will get better provided you give it some time. In the beginning, you can let all the free thoughts flow through your mind. Many experts believe that once they pass through your mind, you will find it easy to calm yourself and control your thoughts better!

3. Get enough rest

You probably must have read in the newspapers and magazines how important sleep is! Here is another reason to keep your sleeping hours and pattern in check. Follow proper sleep timings every night, and avoid taking long naps in the day time. Most doctors recommend 7 to 8 hours of sleep, varying based on your age and kind of work you do. Getting a sound sleep gives your body and mind the proper rest it needs. It even makes you more productive and increases your concentration. This helps your mind wary off from obsessions and keeps your thinking directed in the right place.

Check Out – 10 Tricks to Help You Sleep Well!

Thanks to technology, you have some amazing and cheaply available fitness bands that can monitor your sleep. These bands can monitor your sleeping patterns, and how well you slept. Your sleep related stats can be seen on your smartphone and you will also recommendations based on your records. Check out the best available bands here.

4. Connect with family and pals

What is the definition of fun without a group of loving friends and your close relatives? Get in tune with your cousins who fall in your age group and socialize with them. Get to know your elders better, whom you find inspiring. Ask them about their experiences in life and you will be amazed by how much they have to talk about! It will be more fun than you can think of it now, so do try it. Do not forget to go out and mend in with friends or friends of friends at little social meetings. Try to be with people who follow similar interests as yours.

Indulging in social life can do you a lot of good, and will prevent you from thinking about your obsessions. You will be absorbed by other activities and discussions, and with time you will be in more control of your OCD. So yes, socializing can be seen as an OCD treatment.

5. Talk it out, don’t be shy

We made this point in the top section of the article as well. Many people don’t accept it that they are going through a condition of obsessions and compulsions. They are too shy to accept it in public, and some even adapt aggression as a defense when confronted by concerned people. Thankfully people are taking a more open minded approach towards situations like this, and they more helpful than they ever were. What good will it do to keep your problems confined to yourself?

Instead, one must share it with their close ones and friends. A healthy discussion will bring them multiple ways to handle their problem. They will get to know their problem even better from a different aspect. Apart from just discussing it with your closed ones, you can even seek professional medical help. And if you are still not confident about talking to others, then there are few sites that provides you with an option to chat with unknown listeners from around the world. One such website is 7cupsoftea, which you might find helpful.

6. Explore yourself and circle to a solution

Have you ever given yourself some quality time? It can really be a turning point for you, if you do it the right way. There are so many options to spend solo time. Going on a solo trip is a trend these days, but it can really give you a worthy experience. It is also one of the best ways to handle more responsibility and concentrate on self survival, driving you away from obsessions. You can go out for a movie all by yourself, and enjoy your own company. Add to it a lunch or dinner that too alone, choosing the dishes for yourself. This will also make you a better decision maker and make you confident about yourself.

7. Get a pet to care for

A pet can be your best friend, as many say. But if look how it can benefit an OCD patient, then we find another good reason to keep a pet. Managing a pet requires time, and this way your attention will be diverted to your cute pet for most time that you are idle! We recommend getting a playful breed of dog, who are the best attention seekers and hate boredom. They will love you back unconditionally and make you feel more important about yourself. Caring for them will make you more responsible as well and it will also prevent your mind to wander off to your obsessions.

These were few of the best methods one could use for OCD treatment. You can share in comments if you too have or had some obsessions, and how you tackled them. Many others can find inspiration by reading your stories, and they might open themselves to the outside world as well!