About OCD
OCD is a mental health condition characterized by a pattern of these two things.
Obsessions and Compulsions
These are obvious behaviors others can see, like cleaning, touching, or moving things.
Overt Compulsions
While this is unknown, factors such as genetics, brain biology and chemistry, and environment may play a role.
Exact Cause of OCD
MYTH OR FACT? OCD is just about being neat, organized, or a "neat freak."
MYTH. While cleaning or symmetry can be common themes, OCD can also involve intrusive, distressing thoughts about harming others, morality, or "just right" feelings unrelated to being neat or organized.
This natural disaster is measured on the Richter scale.
Earthquakes
These are rituals, urges, and behavioral responses to unwanted thoughts.
Compulsions
These are hidden mental rituals such as counting, repeating things, questioning, or checking.
Covert Compulsions
Breaking the cycle of OCD involves doing this to intrusive thoughts, changing the idea that intrusive thoughts are true or that compulsions must be acted on.
Challenging
MYTH OR FACT? The World Health Organization (WHO) has included OCD in the top 10 most debilitating illnesses in terms of loss of income and quality of life.
FACT. Without treatment, OCD can severely impact a person's education, career, and relationships.
The peanut is not a "pea" or a "nut", but this type of crop.
Legume
These are persistent, unwanted, and intrusive thoughts that cause significant anxiety or distress.
Obsessions
Cycle
These can be used to manage the anxiety and discomfort that arise when not engaging in a compulsion.
Coping Skills/Strategies
MYTH OR FACT? People with OCD don't realize their thoughts are irrational.
MYTH. Most people with OCD know their thoughts and behaviors are irrational, which often causes extreme frustration and shame.
This is the twelfth sign of the zodiac.
Pisces
This term is used to describe a specific theme or pattern of obsessions and compulsions that categorizes how symptoms manifest (such as fear of contamination or harm).
Subtype
This is a variant of OCD, where a person fixates on a non-observable (or slight) "flaw", leading to constant checking or attempts to hide or change the "flaw".
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
This type of therapy, focused on how thoughts and actions influence each other, can help teach different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to obsessions and compulsions.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
MYTH OR FACT? Anxiety or distress and interference with a person's normal routine are necessary for a diagnosis of OCD.
FACT.
This was the first flavor of Life Savers candy.
Peppermint
This approximate percentage of the population has met the diagnostic criteria for OCD in the past year.
1.2%
This is an obsessive-compulsive related disorder, where a person experiences an uncontrollable urge to pull out hair from the scalp, eyebrows, or other body areas.
Trichotillomania
This type of therapy used in the treatment of OCD involves gradually confronting feared situations while resisting the urge to perform compulsive rituals.
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
MYTH OR FACT? The average age for OCD onset is early twenties in women and late adolescence in men, but it can affect children as young as 6 or 7.
FACT.
Nephology is the study of this meteorological entity.
Clouds