4 Types of OCD & How They Manifest

Summary

This video from Psych2Go educates viewers on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), emphasizing its impact on mental health. It clarifies that OCD involves persistent, distressing thoughts and repetitive behaviors aimed at easing anxiety. The script outlines four types of OCD manifestations: intrusive thoughts and ruminations, checking compulsions, contamination fears, and the need for symmetry and orderliness. It highlights the importance of professional help and cognitive behavioral therapy for those affected, encouraging viewers to seek support and share their experiences to foster understanding and reduce isolation.

Takeaways

• 📢 The video aims to raise awareness about psychology and mental health, making them more accessible to everyone.
• 🚫 The content is for educational purposes and should not be used for self-diagnosis.
• 🤔 Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by repetitive, unwanted, or intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.
• 🔄 OCD can manifest in various ways, causing significant suffering to those affected.
• 💡 Intrusive thoughts in OCD are repetitive and persistent, often leading to obsessions on topics like violence, sexuality, religion, or magical thinking.
• 🤔 Rumination in OCD involves excessive dwelling on unproductive questions or themes, often leading to detachment from the present.
• 🔒 Checking compulsions in OCD stem from a fear of negative outcomes, such as fires or burglaries, leading to repetitive behaviors like rechecking locks.
• 🛁 Contamination obsessions in OCD involve a fear of dirt or germs, leading to behaviors like excessive hand washing or avoidance of physical contact.
• 🧼 Mental contamination is a newer area of OCD research, where individuals feel the need to 'cleanse' themselves of negative emotional experiences.
• 🔄 Symmetry and orderliness in OCD involve an obsession with organization and neatness, often without enjoyment and driven by a feeling of 'rightness'.
• 🛑 Compulsions in OCD provide only temporary relief, creating a repetitive cycle of thoughts and behaviors.
• 💡 There is hope for those with OCD, as cognitive behavioral therapy from specialized therapists can lead to productive results.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the Psych2Go channel?

The Psych2Go channel aims to spread awareness about psychology and mental health, making these topics more accessible to everyone.

What is the intended use of the video on OCD?

The video is for educational purposes only and should not be used for self-diagnosis. It is not a substitute for professional help.

What is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?

OCD is a mental illness characterized by repetitive, unwanted, or intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and the urge to perform repetitive actions (compulsions).

How do intrusive thoughts in OCD differ from normal intrusive thoughts?

In OCD, intrusive thoughts are repetitive, constant, and can obsess on a thought for minutes or even hours, unlike the occasional normal intrusive thought.

What are some common topics of intrusive thoughts in OCD?

Common topics include violent intrusive thoughts, sexual intrusive thoughts, religious obsessions, excessive relationship analysis, and magical thinking.

What is rumination in the context of OCD?

Rumination in OCD refers to dwelling upon a question or theme unproductively and excessively, often leading to detachment from the present environment.

Why do individuals with OCD engage in checking behaviors?

Checking behaviors in OCD stem from a fear of something bad happening, such as a fire or harm to loved ones, and are performed to seek reassurance or prevent imagined negative outcomes.

How does mental contamination differ from physical contamination in OCD?

Mental contamination in OCD involves feelings of having been treated badly or exposed to abusive remarks, leading to compulsions aimed at 'cleansing' the bad feelings, whereas physical contamination involves fears of dirt or germs.

What is the role of symmetry and orderliness in OCD?

In OCD, an obsession with symmetry and orderliness can lead individuals to arrange items meticulously, not for enjoyment but to alleviate the distress caused by a feeling that things are not 'just right'.

What is the typical duration of relief provided by compulsions in OCD?

Compulsions in OCD typically provide relief for a very short duration, often just a second, before the cycle of obsessions and compulsions repeats.

What therapeutic approach has shown promise in treating OCD?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), particularly when delivered by a therapist who specializes in and understands OCD, has shown to be effective for some individuals.

How can someone who suspects having OCD seek help?

If someone suspects they or another person may have OCD, they should seek professional help from a mental health professional who can provide a proper diagnosis and treatment.

What is the importance of community support for individuals with OCD?

Community support can help individuals with OCD understand their mental illness better and feel less alone in their journey, potentially providing the first step towards feeling better.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Introduction and Purpose

The narrator introduces the video, thanking viewers for their support and emphasizing the importance of their engagement. The narrator clarifies that the video is for educational purposes and cautions against self-diagnosis. The video will discuss different types of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) to raise awareness and understanding.

05:03

🧠 Understanding Intrusive Thoughts

This paragraph explains how OCD manifests through intrusive thoughts, which are unwanted, repetitive, and distressing. These thoughts can range from violent to sexual and often involve excessive rumination on unproductive themes. People with OCD may engage in rituals to mitigate the impact of these intrusive thoughts, causing significant distress and preoccupation.

🔍 The Checking Compulsion

Here, the focus is on the compulsion to check things repeatedly, driven by fears of harm, mistakes, or loss. Examples include repeatedly verifying locked doors, checking emails for errors, or seeking reassurance about personal fears. The compulsion stems from a deep fear of losing something valuable, and despite knowing the actions are irrational, the person with OCD cannot stop the behavior.

🦠 Fear of Contamination

This paragraph details the fear of contamination, which can be either physical or mental. Physical contamination involves excessive fear of germs or dirt, leading to behaviors like frequent handwashing. Mental contamination is associated with feeling dirty due to negative experiences or words, resulting in compulsions aimed at cleansing these feelings. Both types can lead to significant distress and impairment.

🔄 Obsession with Symmetry and Order

The discussion shifts to the obsession with symmetry and orderliness in OCD, where individuals feel a compulsion to organize and arrange things perfectly. This obsession goes beyond a preference for neatness and is driven by an intense need for things to feel 'just right,' leading to repeated actions to achieve a sense of relief, albeit temporary.

💡 Conclusion and Encouragement

The final paragraph offers hope and encouragement, noting that effective treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy exist for OCD. The narrator urges viewers to seek professional help if they or someone they know might have OCD and emphasizes the importance of understanding and support. Viewers are encouraged to engage with the content, share their experiences, and support one another.

Keywords

💡Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD is a mental health condition characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (compulsions). The disorder is the central theme of the video, which aims to raise awareness and educate viewers on its various manifestations and impacts on individuals' lives. The script provides examples such as intrusive thoughts about harm or contamination fears.

💡Obsessions

Obsessions refer to persistent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts that cause significant anxiety. In the context of the video, obsessions are a core symptom of OCD, leading individuals to engage in compulsive behaviors to alleviate the distress caused by these thoughts, such as the fear of harming oneself or others.

💡Compulsions

Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed in response to an obsession. The video script illustrates compulsions as the urge to perform actions repeatedly, such as checking if a door is locked or washing hands excessively, in an attempt to reduce anxiety stemming from obsessions.

💡Intrusive Thoughts

Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, involuntary ideas that cause distress or anxiety. The script explains that in OCD, these thoughts are not occasional but rather repetitive and constant, leading to significant distress and often followed by compulsive rituals.

💡Ruminations

Ruminations in the context of OCD involve dwelling on a question or theme excessively without reaching a productive conclusion. The video describes how individuals with OCD may ruminate on life after death or other unanswerable questions, leading to preoccupation and detachment from the present.

💡Checking

Checking is a compulsive behavior where an individual repeatedly verifies something to alleviate anxiety. The script uses checking as an example of a compulsion in OCD, such as checking if an email is perfect or if a door is locked, often driven by irrational fears.

💡Contamination

Contamination refers to the fear of being dirty or contracting germs, which is a common obsession in OCD. The video script describes how individuals may engage in excessive washing or avoid contact with others due to this fear, leading to physical and social consequences.

💡Mental Contamination

Mental contamination is a newer concept in OCD research, where individuals feel 'contaminated' by negative experiences or words. The script explains that this can lead to compulsive behaviors aimed at 'cleansing' the mind, such as showering to wash away bad feelings.

💡Symmetry and Orderliness

Symmetry and orderliness are types of OCD where individuals have an intense focus on arranging items in a perfectly symmetrical or orderly manner. The video script notes that while many people appreciate neatness, those with OCD feel a compulsive need to organize, which does not bring them enjoyment but rather relief from anxiety.

💡Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a type of psychotherapy that helps individuals manage their problems by changing the way they think and behave. The video script mentions CBT as a treatment for OCD, highlighting its effectiveness in helping individuals with the disorder to break the cycle of obsessions and compulsions.

💡Professional Help

The video script emphasizes the importance of seeking professional help for individuals who suspect they or someone else may have OCD. It encourages viewers to consult with therapists who specialize in treating OCD, reinforcing the message that support and understanding from professionals can be crucial for managing the condition.

Highlights

Psych2Go channel aims to spread awareness about psychology and mental health.

The importance of community engagement through comments, likes, and shares for channel support.

The video serves as an educational resource and is not a diagnostic tool for mental health conditions.

Professional help is advised for suspected OCD cases instead of self-diagnosis.

OCD is characterized by repetitive, unwanted, or intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.

OCD manifests in various forms, affecting individuals differently.

Intrusive thoughts in OCD are repetitive and constant, causing significant distress.

Common intrusive thoughts include fears of violence, sexual harm, and religious obsessions.

Rumination in OCD involves excessive dwelling on unproductive thoughts or themes.

Checking compulsions stem from fears of negative outcomes like fires or burglaries.

Mental contamination in OCD involves the fear of emotional or psychological dirtiness.

Symmetry and orderliness obsessions are common in OCD, affecting how individuals organize their environment.

OCD compulsions provide only temporary relief, leading to a repetitive cycle of thoughts and behaviors.

Cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective in treating OCD when provided by a specialized therapist.

The video encourages viewers to seek professional help if they suspect OCD in themselves or others.

Sharing experiences and engaging with others can help in understanding and coping with OCD.

Support from others can be a crucial step towards feeling better when dealing with mental health issues.

The video concludes by encouraging viewers to like, share, and subscribe for more educational content.

Transcripts

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Hey, Psych2Goers.

Welcome back to our channel.

We wanted to let you know

that each and every one of your comments, likes, and shares,

helps support this channel and our goal to spread awareness

about psychology and mental health.

You help us make psychology

and mental health more accessible to everyone.

So, thank you so much for your support.

Before we begin, we would also like to remind you

that this video is for educational purposes only,

and is not intended to be used as a diagnosis.

So please do not self-diagnose.

If you suspect you or someone else might have OCD,

we advise you to seek professional help.

With that said, let's continue.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD

is a mental illness that is exhibited by repetitive,

unwanted, or intrusive thoughts.

The obsessions.

Often followed by an urge to do something repeatedly.

The compulsions.

It is a very serious mental illness

that causes a great deal of suffering to those who have it.

But did you know that there can be many different ways

in which OCD manifests itself

to help you get a better understanding of OCD?

Here are four different types of OCD and how they manifest.

Number one, Intrusive Thoughts and Ruminations.

When someone with OCD suffers from intrusive thoughts,

it's not the occasional disturbing thought now and then,

it can be normal for people to have an intrusive thought

as they go about their day.

They may think of something worrisome

or unpleasant and brush the thought aside.

With OCD, it's a different story.

When someone with OCD has intrusive thoughts,

they're repetitive and often constant.

They can obsess on the thought for minutes or even hours.

These thoughts can range in topic and be anything,

but some common ones are: violent intrusive thoughts,

which involve a fear of harming yourself or a loved one,

sexual intrusive thoughts,

which can involve unwanted thoughts

of causing sexual harm to someone

or obsessively questioning one's sexuality.

And others can involve obsessions on religion

and the fear of committing sin,

analyzing one's relationship excessively,

and magical thinking intrusive thoughts,

in which one fears that simply thinking about thought

can make it more likely to happen.

These thoughts are often followed by rituals or compulsion

in order to make the bad thing not happen,

or to simply assure oneself

that they don't feel a certain way about a negative thought.

Ruminations in OCD are when one dwells upon a question

or a theme that is unproductive and likely to lead nowhere,

dwelled upon for an excessive amount of time,

more than your average philosopher.

These are often different from intrusive thoughts,

as they can be indulged in rather than resisted.

Someone with OCD may excessively ruminate

about life after death,

visualizing every scenario to the detail,

leaving them detached and preoccupied

from what is going on around them

as they're attending to the thoughts in their mind.

Number two, Checking.

OCD can present itself in the need to check on something.

This act as the compulsion.

Checking is often enacted out of a fear

of something bad will happen such as a fire,

a burglary, or harm to loved ones.

This can display itself in a variety of ways.

Someone may check in with their family members

to gain reassurance about their fears,

or maybe they feel an unrelenting need

to check the door repeatedly to make sure it's locked

out of fear of a burglary.

Someone with OCD may even try to recall past memories

to make sure they felt a certain way

or didn't cause someone harm.

For example, someone with OCD may be obsessing

on their thoughts, questioning their sexuality.

When they know outside of the obsessing,

what their sexual preference is, the individual may check

or pay attention to their body for arousal.

But because they're focused on not wanting this response,

the body may automatically generate feelings of arousal.

As research has shown,

our bodies often react to what is actually relevant,

and not always what we desire and value.

Or, another example, someone with those CD

may check an email they've written over and over,

analyzing for any imperfections,

and fear they may have written something wrong

or will offend someone.

Could you imagine writing an email to your boss

only to check it for minutes on end,

all due to a fear you may have written something

that could come across as inappropriate,

and therefore lose your job as a result.

We all generally need our jobs.

So while this fear may seem to derive

from an irrational place,

those checking their email for the hundredth time

are often afraid of losing something important to them.

This is a common fear for those suffering from OCD.

In the sense that they love or value something so much,

they will strongly feel the need to act

out these compulsions to protect what they love.

And since what you love

and value can often change in your life,

OCD will grab a hold

of what it is you're enjoying and valuing,

and try to manipulate it inside of you mind

according to your fears.

This is one of the many dark features of OCD.

Number three, Contamination or Mental Contamination.

Among those with OCD,

there are generally two types of contamination obsessions.

One is simply labeled as contamination.

Contamination is often characterized by the strong fear

of being dirty or contracting germs from objects or people.

Someone may not like to shake hands

as they have an obsession with contracting a virus

from someone else,

or someone may be excessively brushing their teeth

or scrubbing their hands for minutes on end,

out of fear of not feeling clean enough

or feeling just right.

A lot of physical damage can occur due to these compulsions.

Mental contamination is an area of OCD

researchers are just recently starting to get

an understanding of.

It can be evoked when someone feels

as if they've been treated badly,

or if someone says an abusive remark to them.

The person will engage in compulsions

to wash away this bad feeling,

such as showering or acting out other compulsions.

And number four, Symmetry and Orderliness.

This type of OCD manifests in different ways,

such as organizing one's books or DVDs,

making sure everything is neat,

or clothes folded perfectly and hanging the same way.

While a lot of us may simply like symmetry,

but those with OCD focused on symmetry and order

are obsessed about it and did not gain any enjoyment

out of organizing to ensure it feels just right.

Remember, what may look organized and clean

to someone who doesn't have OCD,

may feel wrong to someone with OCD,

because it's about the feeling.

Logically, they know their books are neatly stacked

and their closet is fairly organized,

but they can't shake the strong feeling

that it isn't just right.

This feeling may even pester them throughout the entire day,

which is why they so strongly feel the need

to act out the compulsion.

With OCD, the compulsion often only provides relief for,

often, literally a second.

The thoughts and obsessions play on a loop,

leaving a repetitive cycle,

and compulsions are an urge to simply be free of fear,

and, if for only just a second, to feel right.

Fortunately, there is good news and hope in some of this.

There are therapists who do understand

and specialize in treating OCD.

Some of those affected by OCD have seen productive results

through cognitive behavioral therapy

from a therapist who does understand the condition.

If you suspect you or someone else may have OCD,

we highly recommend you seek professional help.

So, do you now understand OCD a little bit more?

Thanks for watching and learning more about mental illness

and psychology, Psych2Goers.

Did you learn something new about OCD?

Are you or someone you know diagnosed with OCD?

Feel free to share with us in the comments

and engage with others

who may suffer from the same type as you.

It can help to understand your mental illness more,

and make you feel less alone in the process,

because you're not alone,

no matter what you're going through.

A bit of support could be the first step

into feeling just a little bit better.

If you found this video helpful,

don't forget to click the like button

and share it with someone who might need it.

Subscribed to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon

for more content like this,

and as always, thanks for watching.