The Nature of the Obsessed- What Does it Mean to Have OCD?

You’re visiting a friend’s workplace at their office and once the two of you get there, you see folders stacked up neatly, books aligned in alphabetical order, and the office chair tucked into the table.

“Wow. That’s neat!” You exclaim.

And they respond with, “Yeah I’m really OCD about this stuff.”

What does this mean? Are they trying to express that they are simply a neat-freak or do they have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

The words OCD are thrown around a bit to carelessly in today’s world if you ask me.

First of all, many people will use the term ‘OCD’ as an adjective to describe themselves. Let’s get one thing straight. ‘OCD’ a mental disorder, so you cannot be ‘very OCD’. It’s a noun. So you can either ‘have OCD’, or you ‘do not have OCD’.

Secondly, OCD in no way applies to people who are just very organised. It is a mental disorder. One of the most prominent factors that defines a mental disorder would be that the behaviour must prevent a person from functioning normally. So a person who washes their hands often is very different from a person who washes their hands obsessively for thirty seconds each time or twenty five seconds if it was a Wednesday.

So what exactly is OCD? OCD is a recognised anxiety disorder in which the person experiences recurrent obsessional thoughts. These are ideas, images or impulses that enter one’s mind repeatedly in a stereotyped form. One often tries to resist the thoughts but are usually unsuccessful. These thoughts are classified as their own thoughts even though they are involuntary and repugnant (sometimes violent or obscene) which is inevitably distressing. This is the ‘obsession’ part of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Some of the themes in obsessive thoughts would be contamination, pathological doubt, somatic, need for symmetry and aggressive. These obsessive thoughts will make the person driven to do something or carry out a certain behaviour: compulsive acts or rituals. They are stereotyped behaviours that are repeated again and again, which are not inherently enjoyable  and usually don’t promote the completion of useful tasks. Because of this, the behaviours are recognised as pointless and ineffectual, so there are usually repeated attempts made to resist it. Although in long standing cases, resistance may be minimal. This is the ‘compulsive’ part of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Some of the major trends in compulsive behaviour would be checking, washing, counting, the need to ask or confess, symmetry and precision and hoarding. So the next time you see your office friend, think about whether they fit the criteria as to what it means to have OCD.

Sources:

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Edited Hamad Hussain