An essential element in the diagnosis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is the presence of unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) which induce significant anxiety symptoms. The anxiety then prompts you to engage in repetitive, ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) which serve to reduce your anxiety over the short term. So the diagnosis of OCD requires the presence of both […]
Does Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Get Worse With Age And Does It Go Away?
To answer the first part of your question, OCD, or obsessive compulsive disorder, does not necessarily get worse with age, but it is an illness that lasts a long time. You can recover from OCD. But as time goes on, most people with OCD have a relapse- in other words, most people with OCD, once […]
Are Trichotillomania and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Related?
Yes, trichotillomania and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are related. They are both anxiety disorders, and both have compulsions as the core problem. Compulsions are the need to carry out an act or behavior in order to reduce the anxiety induced by obsessions (intrusive thoughts). However, the obsessions in trichotillomania are not well defined, as they […]
Obsessive Compulsive Decluttering
There is a subset of people with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) who are not well-described in the literature. Much is known about compulsive cleaning and compulsive hoarding, but not much is known about the other end of this spectrum- compulsive decluttering. Compulsive decluttering, also known as obsessive compulsive spartanism and clutter phobia, is when people […]
How OCD Evolves- The Negative Cycle of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is an anxiety disorder marked by recurrent, intrusive thoughts and uncontrollable rituals to decrease the distress. For a behavioral explanation of what reinforces the thought and ritual in obsessive compulsive disorder, let’s look at an example of a negative cycle of OCD: Let’s say you have OCD and are driving around a neighborhood. […]