Disclaimer: Self diagnosing can do more harm than good, do not take this as a diagnosis. This post is purely for educational purposes & to provide you with facts rather than fiction.
We’re back with another Mental Health Monday! A big hello to our worldwide readers, we hope you’re all doing well. Today we’re debunking signs of OCD as per a social media post that wasn’t accurate, we talk more about that on our insta @sharpmindspsych
Without further delay, lets get into it!
Here at the facts of OCD:
- You need to have both obsessions & compulsions.
- You have constant thoughts, urges, or images that are unwanted.
- Such thoughts, urges, or images cause you distress or anxiety.
- You suppress such thoughts, urges, or images with other thoughts or actions.
- You partake in repetitive behaviours, like hand-washing or checking things.
- You feel driven to do repetitive behaviours bc of inner rules that must be applied.
- The behaviours/acts are aimed at preventing/reducing anxiety/distress.
- Such behaviours are time consuming & stop you from daily life
Here’s the fiction:
- “You “logically” know your compulsions may not influence an outcome”- False, some people are not aware that the compulsions or drives to do obsessive behaviour are seen as a problem.
- “You constantly check in with others to see if they’re okay”- False, not every person with symptoms of OCD does this.
- “Your unwanted thoughts are taboo”- false, not everyone experiences those and those experiences could be better explained by another disorder.
- You feel ashamed of unwanted throughts” – false, not everyone feels ashamed and a lot of people think that their obsessions and compulsions are “normal” (at SMP HQ we try and not use the word normal or abnormal too seriously, because who is even normal these days anyway?).
- “You triple check behaviours you’ve already done” – false, it can be any number of times.
Please always listen to the facts of a mental health professional and not just a page claiming to know things! This is how misinformation floats around and is how misdiagnosis occurs as well as self-diagnosis. If you’re struggling with symptoms of OCD or in general please reach out to your GP and get a referal to start your mental health journey! If you’re worried about the stigma associated with seeing a psych check out our atricle “What Seeing A Psychologist Is Actually Like“.
If you need self-help resources, we have a few (more to come soon!) that you can see under the tab “resources”.
If you enjoyed this post please like & subscribe to our site to join our growing community!
Stay safe- SMP.