Although all forms of OCD have symptoms in common, the way these symptoms present themselves in daily life differs a lot from person to person. OCD often fixates around one or more themes. Some of the most common themes are contamination, harm, checking and perfection.
Themes of OCD relate to the types of thoughts and compulsions you might have. For example, one theme could revolve around the fear of a tragedy. An obsessive thought that could center around this theme is a fear of causing harm to loved ones, others, or yourself by accidentally causing your house to catch on fire.
Common obsessions include: fears of contamination/germs, causing harm (perhaps by hitting someone with a car that you don't mean to), making mistakes (leaving the door unlocked), disasters (causing a fire), certain numbers (such as 13 and 666), unwanted violent thoughts (thought of harming a loved one), blasphemous ...
Primarily obsessional OCD has been called "one of the most distressing and challenging forms of OCD." People with this form of OCD have "distressing and unwanted thoughts pop into [their] head frequently," and the thoughts "typically center on a fear that you may do something totally uncharacteristic of yourself, ...
It's often argued that themes are irrelevant because “It's all OCD”, and to some extent that view is correct – it IS all OCD. No matter the current theme of your condition, or the exact nature of your intrusive thoughts, it is all OCD.
Rumination within OCD can cause a variety of intrusive thoughts that are different for each person. A person may experience symptoms of OCD that involve multiple themes and subtypes of OCD, and it is not unusual for a person to suddenly experience obsessions about new OCD content areas.
By using the things that are important to us and that we are emotionally engaged with, OCD knows that in all likelihood we will obsess over them and wind up performing compulsions to try and lower the anxiety.
Symptoms of OCD – obsessions
Common obsessions include: fear of contamination from germs, dirt, poisons, and other physical and environmental substances. fear of harm from illness, accidents or death that may occur to oneself or to others. This may include an excessive sense of responsibility for preventing this harm.
Over-awareness of One's Body
Some patients with OCD develop a fixation on a certain physical reaction or function of their body. This can be the act of swallowing, blinking, breathing, etc.
For many, OCD obsessions take the form of taboo subjects that are difficult to speak openly about…let alone even think about: paedophilia, incest, violence, bestiality, rape, suicide, and more.
Pure O stands for 'purely obsessional'. People sometimes use this phrase to describe a type of OCD where they experience distressing intrusive thoughts but there are no external signs of compulsions (for example checking or washing).
Your OCD theme is centered around your content, what bothers you, the specific subject matter of your obsessions and mental and/or physical compulsions. It is very common for people to have several OCD themes and for some people to experience rapid change and cycling of themes.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a serious psychiatric disorder that affects approximately 2% of the populations of children and adults.
OCD is a relatively common mental health condition. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), OCD affects approximately 1% of the global population. In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that 1.2% of adults have OCD.
An estimated 1.2% of U.S. adults had OCD in the past year.
If you have OCD, you don't have to disclose your condition to anyone, even family members. It's your experience, your life. But if you have people in your life you trust and know to love and support you, letting them in, even just partially in, can have a positive ripple effect on everyone involved.
I see many clients who experience feelings of shame in relation to their OCD. This can be connected with the behaviours they engage with, where a fear of being noticed while carrying out rituals can give rise to feelings of embarrassment or shame, coupled with the potential for being questioned about their behaviours.
Ignoring symptoms of OCD will not cause them to disappear, and they're not going to just go away. That's not the way OCD works. In fact, ignoring symptoms, telling yourself that you're not really that bad and you can manage the disorder by trying self-help for OCD will only exacerbate the situation.
You can get it under control and become recovered but, at the present time, there is no cure. It is a potential that will always be there in the background, even if it is no longer affecting your life.
“OCD symptoms can intensify during times of stress or when you feel like life is getting out of control.” People with OCD regularly experience extreme, yet unnecessary, worry. Obsessive and uncontrollable thoughts can interfere with life to the point of serious disruption.