Obsessions and Compulsions – What are they?

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a state in which a person is filled with anxiety. One of the prominent features of the disorder is to have unwanted thoughts which are alarming and to do certain things again and again. Their behavior comes in the way of their daily life. They have very peculiar patterns of behavior which is repetitive in nature. Although many of them know that their obsessions and compulsions are meaning less they can not get rid of them a lead a normal life. It is impossible to ignore them.

People suffering from the OCD are generally nervous and are frightened. They adopt a certain behavior pattern to get rid of the feeling. The rules of the behavior pattern are self made. They feel that that their nervousness has vanished and feel better for a while. The whole ritual starts all over after a short while as the feeling of nervousness returns. These behavior patterns are called the compulsion.

Obsessions are the feelings which arise in the mind of the sufferer. They are the ideas and impulses which run across the mind of a person suffering from the OCD. At times these thoughts just come and go where as there are times when the thoughts not go off.
Some of the common obsessions are:

• One feels disturbed if things are not kept in order.
• To be afraid of dirt and germs.
• Require constant reassurance.

Some of the common compulsions are:

• Washing and cleaning of hands, showers and brushing teeth again and again.
• Always in search of reassurance.
• Arranging things all the time.

There is really no recognizable cause for OCD. It affects both men and women uniformly. There are other illnesses which are associated to OCD. In America alone there is a 2.3 % of the population between the age of 18 and 54 that suffers from OCD.