Obsessive-compulsive disorder can take up hours of the day, but it responds well to treatment. Structured therapy and medication can reduce symptoms significantly.
Intrusive thoughts and the rituals performed to relieve them can dominate daily routine. Treatment helps break this cycle and restore normal functioning.
What is OCD?
OCD involves recurring, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges that cause distress, and repetitive behaviours or mental acts performed to reduce that distress. Most people recognise the thoughts as excessive but find them difficult to resist.
When to seek help for OCD
Recognising the signs and knowing when support can help
If checking, washing, or mental rituals are taking up significant time each day, or if intrusive thoughts are causing distress and affecting work or relationships, seek assessment.
Common patterns of OCD
Contamination and Washing
Fear of dirt, germs, or illness leading to repeated washing, cleaning, or avoidance of objects and places thought to be contaminated.
Checking
Repeatedly checking locks, gas, appliances, or documents, driven by doubt and fear that something harmful has been overlooked.
Symmetry and Ordering
A need for objects to be arranged in a particular way, with distress when arrangements feel incomplete or not “just right”.
Intrusive Taboo Thoughts
Distressing thoughts of a violent, religious, or sexual nature that are unwanted and contrary to the person’s own values.
Hoarding Difficulties
Persistent difficulty discarding possessions regardless of value, leading to accumulation that interferes with the use of living space.
Reassurance Seeking
Repeatedly asking family or others for reassurance, or mentally reviewing events, to reduce doubt and anxiety.
