Depression Forums
Other Depression & Anxiety Related Illneses => Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - OCD => Topic started by: Zaf on June 28, 2012, 06:33:25 PM
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Watching Wimbledon (a weakness of mine) and the more I watch Nadal the more I wonder if he has OCD, all the bottles lined up by his chair and what seems a never varying routine just before he serves
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But that isn't what OCD is. OCD is intrusive thoughts of a sexual, (homosexual, peadophilic, incestuous), aggressive or other nature which causes huge levels of anxiety to the sufferer. It is also the fear of very unlikely scenarios, such as fearing you have run someone over, and repeatedly turning back to check that you having killed someone, or repeatedly checking the locks of your house for hours on end until you collapse with exhaustion. Comulsions may be performed to help reduce the anxiety but this only makes the anxiety worse and the OCD sufferer gets worse and worse.
Unfortunately the public view OCD as being quirky traits, which leads to genuine OCD sufferers having a hard time getting time of work etc, and it leads to sufferers receiving a lack of compassion.....whereas in fact, it is considered to be one of the worlds top ten most disabling conditions.
Anyway Zaf, more importantly, who is Nadal? He sounds like a cartoon fantasy alien hero.
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Surely mild OCD includes quirky traits too, which I agree does tend to make the general public trivialise the condition.
Nadad is a tennis player, about 3rd in the world
Z xx
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Much has been made of Nadal and his bottles - it definitely is a form of OCD, of which there are many variants. He probably believes that he needs the bottles placed in a particular position in order for him to be lucky. I used to have that form as a kid, everything had to be in its correct place and if someone moved it, I went berserk.
What I have now - as opposed to classic OCD - is an obsessive, compulsive personality disorder. This has developed from classic OCD as a kid where I did believe that if, for example, my shoes weren't in exactly the correct position something awful would happen. Now I no longer have this form - I do not believe something dreadful will happen if my shoes aren't correctly aligned. Instead, I obsess about things and cannot stop thinking about them; for example, if I run out of soap, for argument's sake, I keep thinking about it until I have bought some more. This is obviously strongly connected to compulsion - as soon as the soap has run out, I compulsively go out and buy more. I will also often act compulsively, buying or doing things I either never needed to do or certainly didn't need to do that very moment. I also used to be a perfectionist, but that has got better with time, though it was a nightmare at school. "£"
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Its not just the bottles, watch how he prepares to serve.
I could have written a lot of your post Ducky
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Blimey, I thought I might be unique (uniquely odd!) %$£
How have you had it treated - I can control some compulsions and I am fully aware of what I am doing, just can't help it. Seroxat was claimed to be good for this, but in hindsight I don't think it was at all.
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Partly counselling and partly my relatively recently found faith (which possibly sounds ridiculous but I feel its had a very positive effect). It will never leave me but I can mostly stop the ruminating these days although I usually check I've locked the door when I go out several times and have little rituals.
I dont have severe OCD fortunately but these things have helped me
Z xx
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Nothing remotely ridiculous about faith - I wish I was 100% convinced about rebirth, then I could go searching for my son. :'(
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My faith believes that karma will bring us together with anyone we have strong connections with in a former life (good or bad) so there is every possibility you will be able to. xxxx
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The way Nadal serves does not imply that he is having intrusive thoughts such as about molesting children. OCD is a serious psychological disorder.
If you have OCD it wont be cured by faith (if it allows you to accept doubt and also helps to decrease anxiety then it could be useful). For OCD you need CBT specifically designed for OCD, nor will psychotherapy and counseling work. Only CBT and ERP are effective non drug treatments.
Obsessive compulsive personality disorder is a different matter and the treatments involve psychotherapy, but if you have true OCD psychotherapy is a waste of time...not an opinion, but a time tested clinically proven fact - you need CBT with ERP treatments.
If you truly do have OCD you will be unlikely to recover unless you embark upon the correct treatments for this particular disorder.
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But surely there are varying degrees of OCD - some far more complex and debilitating than others? And we do not know what is going on in Nadal's mind ...
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OCD is a genuine mental disorder that is extremely distressing and it requires an intensive and especially designed CBT course to defeat it, often in combination with medication. I'm not saying that Nadal is does not have OCD, I know nothing about his mental health, but the condition shouldn't be belittled in this way. Since that you have OCD then I think understand the great deal of anxiety that it puts you through and its a very distressing condition.
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I dont think anyone is belittling the condition but I do believe there are various degrees of it, faith wont cure it but I believe in some circumstances it can help with the ruminating.
I started wondering about degrees if OCD and found this, I havent read it all but so far it seems worth a read http://www.stlocd.org/handouts/YBOC-Symptom-Checklist.pdf
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Its the Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive disorder symptom check list used to determine if an individual has OCD or not. It tries to determine the number of obsessions and compulsions a patient has and the quantity of time they spend performing engaging in the rituals.
Its approach backs up what I am trying to point out. Somebody lining up bottles because of a superstitious belief does not mean they have OCD, checking things does not necessarily mean you are suffering from OCD - many many people have traits like these - you are considered to have OCD if much of your day is taken up obsessing and performing compulsions, suffering from painful intrussive thoughts to the extent that it impairs your social and proffesional performance.
OCD is a serious condition, it is not a few obsessions and quirky traits, it is a real problem for those who have it...most people have obsessions and it is common for people to ruminate, but OCD is way beyond this.
I can imagine how religion could help some people with OCD if it can calm the anxiety....especially a religion that promotes calmness and tranquility. But in the majority of cases, if the person does really have genuine OCD, it is yet another theme that the OCD picks up on, fear of god punishing them, fear of what happens to them after death, fear of going to hell because they keep looking at children in a sexual manner...this list goes on and becomes increasingly bizarre, even non religious people sometimes have OCD themes based around religion.....that isn't an attack on religion at all, its just an explaination of how OCD will pick up and twist everything in your mind, be it religion, paedophillia, homosexuality, violoence...etc.
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OCD is very serious Steve but I've done a lot of reading on it in the last couple of days and the term appears to cover all aspects and degrees of the illness from very mild to horrendously severe.
Z xx
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I do actually have a very good understanding of this, since the age of 18 I have read just about every paper published on the subject within last 20 years. Of course there are degrees of severity but OCD is a condition that typically involves repeated intrusive thoughts that cause bad anxiety, overt compulsions and rumination - these symptoms must occupy a significant amount of the sufferers time and there must be a degree of social impairment for a diagnosis of OCD to be made. This is what OCD is, it is not a few obsessive traits.
I do not deny there are degrees of severity but if you go to a psychiatrist in the NHS with a few obsessions he/she will tell you that you have obsessive traits, you will not walk away with a diagnosis of OCD. The public and media have completely mis-portayed this illness to the extent that people do not comprehend it. If you start staring at children and thinking that you find them attractive and spend all day thinking you are a paedophile then you will qualify for a diagnosis of OCD.
I am not being pugnacious and I am only arguing respectfully and maturely, but if this forum is to offer support to people with OCD then it has to be clear what OCD is.
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I teally dont feel well enough to argue Steve but I dont entirely agree
Z xx
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I am sorry my intention wasn't to argue, only to discuss. I don't like arguing at all.
I am sorry that I have upset you and made you feel worse, I did not mean to.
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You havent upset me Steve, I just feel very low and ill atm :(