Has anyone ever told you to not think about Pink Elephants? If you really concentrate on not thinking about pink elephants, using every mental means possible, then you will realize how difficult it is to suppress a thought.

That is the battle people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder fight all day, every day, and sometimes for most of their lives.

In other anxiety disorders, the dangerous event is usually an object or a situation. For the person with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (also known as OCD), the dangerous event is a thought, image, or impulse. They try to avoid these thoughts as completely as someone with a snake phobia avoids snakes.

Nearly everyone has had an occasional strange or intrusive thought – the difference is that most people let it go in one ear and out the other. People with OCD suffer from unwanted and intrusive thoughts that they can’t seem to get out of their heads (these are known as obsessions), often compelling them to try to ease their anxiety by repeatedly performing ritualistic behaviors and routines (known as compulsions).

Most people who have OCD are aware that their obsessions and compulsions are irrational, yet they feel powerless to stop them. Some spend hours at a time performing complicated rituals to ward off the persistent, unwelcome thoughts and images.

The most common obsessions are contamination, aggressive impulses, sexual thoughts, body concerns, and a need for symmetry. Most people have multiple obsessions. For examples, people with obsessive impulses may be consumed with fear that they may yell out at a staff meeting or grab someone sexually on a bus. They don’t do it but actively try to avoid these situations.

The most common compulsions involve cleaning rituals or checking rituals. Individuals with cleaning rituals typically fear contamination. Cleaning or washing gives them a sense of safety and control. Checking rituals, by contrast, serve to prevent some future imagined disaster or catastrophe. Most checking is logical at first, such as checking to make sure the stove is turned off. But compulsive checking may be illogical — checking the stove repeatedly, sometimes for hours.

Obsessions and rituals associated with HYPERLINK “http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/index.shtml”obsessive-compulsive disorder can interfere with a person’s normal routine, schoolwork, job, family, or social activities. Several hours every day may be spent focusing on obsessive thoughts and performing rituals. Trying to concentrate on daily activities may be difficult. Left untreated, OCD can interfere with all aspects of life.

It is thought that one in every 100 people has OCD. It appears to affect men and women about equally and is remarkably similar across cultures.

The most effective drug treatments appear to be a class of anti-depressants known as SSRI’s.
Another effective treatment is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy known as exposure with response prevention where the patient is actively prevents himself from doing a ritual and then is exposed to the feared thoughts and situations. Many times therapy and medication are combined for the most effective results.

If you would like more information about this or other anxiety disorders, visit the Anxiety Disorders Association of America website at www.adaa.org
If you would like to know more about me you may go to my website at drgregcason.com

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