I Really Am Obsessive and Compulsive

I had a friend who cleaned her house to the point I was afraid to sit anywhere. She had all her furniture covered with clear plastic covers and would continually dust and sweep even when it didn’t need it. I finally convinced her to talk to a therapist, and she has obsessive-compulsive disorder. With this disorder, a person will have compulsions to do something over and over again. But apparently the compulsive acts are really attempts to stop anxiety.

Some people diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder only have obsessions. These are thoughts and feelings that happen over and over again. They may be really unpleasant thoughts too. This disorder often goes hand-in-hand with depression. No one really knows why this disorder exists though. There are ways to treat it which is good. This disorder can be really life disrupting because you spend so much time doing the same thing over and over again.

Keeping My Anxiety Alive

Did you know there’s something called “maintaining causes” for anxiety. In other words, you have an anxiety disorder and you keep the flames burning because of the way you think and feel. Anxiety is a normal reaction to something that causes fear or worry. When normal anxiety occurs, it’s temporary. After a short while the anxiety dissipates and you stop worrying. But some people actually prolong their anxiety by talking themselves into worrying more and longer than necessary.

One of the most common ways people increase their anxiety is by convincing themselves they need to worry about all the “what-ifs”. If you’ve ever known anyone who always thinks about the worst that can happen, you’ll recognize what I’m talking about. When you maintain your anxiety this way, the anxiety usually gets worse. It can even lead to outright panic attacks. It’s a vicious cycle too. The more you talk about all the bad things that could happen (but probably won’t), the worse your anxiety can get.