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Mental health is a subject that many people aren’t well versed with. Some see it as a phase while others are too ashamed to open up about it. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a condition that projects one to feel recurring sensations or make them do something over and over.
OCD is a very misunderstood condition, especially because of the media portrayal of the same. This is also one of the reasons why knowing the signs is necessary to help the person struggling.
If you have been curious as to what kind of symptoms can sign towards the possibility of OCD, we have sorted out a few for you to look through.
Check Out These Obvious Signs You Are Suffering From Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
1. Are obsessive thoughts taking up your mind?
Obsessive thoughts are the recurring trail of thoughts that take up every single second of a person’s time. These thoughts often tend to preoccupy so much of one’s mind that they forget to keep a track of other important things in life.
These tend to not just stick to normal thoughts but can also extend to cravings and urges. Many people who suffer from OCD tend to have compulsive and obsessive thoughts about a particular situation or even an image, depending on their headspace.
2. Did I Clean that Spot Right?
While OCD is not just characterized by one’s willingness of cleaning the tile floors and bathroom windows, cleanliness actually does play a significant role in deducing a part of who they are.
If you are finding yourself obsessed with cleaning every nook and cranny of the bathroom and sometimes redoing what you just did, there are possibilities that you might be suffering from OCD.
Many psychologists tend to regard this constant need for cleaning with the patient’s fear of contracting a disease or infection.
3. Books Should be in Order
Order of the books matters to you. It is not a sign that is witnessed in every OCD patient but the majority of them tend to keep their books in their designated slots and racks.
Many OCD patients even like to keep the books separated in terms of genre – be it fiction or non-fiction.
Experts define this obsession as an obsession with order and this goes beyond the realm of normal tidiness. Some OCD patients tend to have superstitions about color-coding books and even keeping them wrapped in cloths and papers so as to further protect the outer cover of the books.
4. Self-Doubts are a Common Occurrence
The realm of thoughts, worries, and doubts go beyond what is considered normal. Worriers tend to have this notion stuck in their head that if something doesn’t happen as they planned it to, there are chances that everything else associated with it will also go down in shambles.
Now, you might be thinking that these kinds of thoughts tend to litter a “non OCD” person’s mind too, then how does one segregate the symptoms and understand which is what, right?
A person with OCD who has consistent self-doubts about something will continuously do and redo the work until they feel it has reached their expectation of perfection.
5. Lack of Phone Battery Makes you Anxious
People who suffer from OCD have a consistent knack of ensuring that their phone battery is charged fully. This is primarily concerning the need to have everything in order.
Even having the battery of the phone come down by one bar can spike a feeling of restlessness in an individual suffering from OCD.
This is the primary reason why the people who suffer from this mental health disorder always tend to ensure that they have full phone battery at all times.
6. You Have Your Keys Organized
People with OCD tend to even have their key rings organized according to their liking. And, this is not where the obsession stops.
For OCD patients, having their keys sorted out in the keyrings as per their sequencing and liking is a necessity for their mental wellness.
Any kind of change to that has the possibility of triggering a panic attack in them.
7. Sanitizer is Your Best Friend
With the fear of contracting any kind of disease or infection, sanitizer has become your best friend. Are you one of those people who have to have a bottle of travel sanitizer with you at all times? Do you tend to buy a bottle of sanitizer even before you are even halfway finished with the previous bottle?
These kinds of obsessions and compulsions concerning restocking things as trivial as a sanitizer (which is a huge deal for OCD patients) tend to be indicative of a possibility of you suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
8. Crooked lines make your heart race with anxiousness
If you are finding yourself becoming extremely anxious because of someone drawing a crooked line on an image, there are chances that it is irking your mental health quite a lot.
And before someone jumps to conclusions, the unsettling feeling is not that simple like what one would normally experience if they don’t struggle with OCD.
The feeling of anxiousness often surpasses the common realms of distress. Anxiousness is pretty common when they encounter something amiss with the curvature of a line.
They tend to experience heart palpitations and might constantly repeat similar physical gestures to convey their discomfort.
9. Organized Closets are a Must
Much like how I pointed out the need for everything being in order with respect to the bookshelves, the same extends to the closets and shoe cabinets as well.
The need for proper organization is mainly because of the constant need of wanting everything in the designated places. Individuals with OCD also want everything according to their designated schemes as well.
If you are in the constant need of keeping your closet in check, chances are that you might have been showcasing underlying symptoms of OCD.
10. Punctuality is Your Thing
People with OCD have the constant urge of doing everything in perfect order and at the designated time, making themselves extremely punctual people. And not even punctual, they tend to reach the place of the meeting earlier than the allotted time.
If you relate to such similar situations and are someone who likes to reach places before the designated time, there are chances that you might be suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder.
But, know that just being punctual doesn’t equate to having OCD thoughts. There are a number of accessory symptoms that pair along with it as well.
11. Sleeping in a Particular Position
Sleeping in a particular position all throughout the night can be a sign of over compulsion. Even though there is no specific evidence to back these claims up, it has been seen and witnessed that this is one of those symptoms in people suffering from OCD.
They tend to not shift places and sleep in a particular posture all throughout the night or during the day when they are asleep.
12. Fretting over Unwanted Sexual Thoughts
According to a published post on Psychology Today, it was found that around 10% of the people undergoing their OCD treatment have confessed having unwavering and unwanted sexual thoughts that they couldn’t control in the first place.
Many of them confessed that the majority of these sexual thoughts wavered around the topics of something that’s considerably a taboo or something related to questioning one’s sexual orientation.
13. Repetitive Physical Gestures
Repetitive physical gestures like consistently blinking and hand motions are often signs that you might be suffering from OCD. But, realize that these are the preliminary signs and need further diagnosis to confirm the condition.
Many people tend to think and assume that the majority of the symptoms of OCD are up there in your mind but that is always not the case. There are some signs which are reflected on the exterior as well and these are what show out as the repetitive physical gestures.
14. Buying More than What You Need
How often do you find yourself buying things that you don’t even need? This happens to quite a lot of us, isn’t it? But, there actually are people who like to buy things and hoard them even when they don’t need it.
Owning the same pair of jeans in multiple pairs and in the same color could be a sign that you are brushing aside.
These are often only showcased by people who consistently suffer from OCD because once they like something; they always have a fear of running out of them or outgrowing them.
These rundown of thoughts is exactly what encapsulates their minds and makes them buy more than what they actually need (and sometimes just the same thing).
15. A constant fear with violence
Every single one of us is afraid of violence, aren’t we? Well, for OCD patients, even the slightest hunch of violence can trigger a fear in their mind instigating a panic attack and triggering their underlying anxiety.
Sometimes, these thoughts or fear encircling violence are either in their mind or something that doesn’t have any correlation to reality.
People with OCD tend to have this constant lingering fear in their heads that something wrong and violent might happen. If you are always getting frightened even with the faintest of sounds, there might something in your mind that could insinuate signs of OCD.
16. Rumination Affects Everyday Life
In this given world of competition and such a stressful life, every single one of us is on the road of rumination. But, the moment these stances take over your entire life and squeeze and churn you out completely, that’s when you know that there’s something seriously wrong.
Obsession along with the discoursed array of compulsions often takes up the majority of the time from one’s life, leaving them with a very vain and less fruitful life with nothing much to look forward to.
If you have been experiencing something similar, we would suggest you talk to a mental health practitioner for an accurate diagnosis.
17. Cleanliness is Not a Habit but a Religion for You
While many people who like cleaning do it because they find it fun, if you are here doing it thinking of the consequences of what will happen if you didn’t clean, then there are chances that you are suffering from what doctors term it as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
People who suffer from OCD have this constant knack or fear that they might contract an infection which is why they tend to clean themselves, their surroundings multiple times even if they did it just a few hours back.
OCD is more than the common norm of people washing their hands consistently. People who actually suffer from this mental health disorder have a very poor quality of life if correct treatment isn’t administered. If you are experiencing anything from these above-mentioned signs and symptoms, it might be time to consult a therapist and get the symptoms checked.
