Soul Care #20: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Anxiety continued...

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessions are thoughts or ideas that you cannot stop thinking about. Compulsions are those things you do to calm yourself. The DSM (standard measure of psychological disorders) defines a person with OCD as one who is affected by these obsessive/compulsive patterns for more than 1 1/2 hrs a day. OCD comes from a commitment to control and to create order.

When you see yourself reacting in compulsive ways, (because don't we all do this at times?) you need to stop and ask yourself, what am I really longing for that is not being met? Don't 'go underground' with your issues, even if others don't recognize them. Realize initially that when you choose to stop the compulsive behavior, your anxiety will go up, not down.

If you are seeking to help a person recognize their strategies, the person may initially perceive that you are against them rather than for them. Be very careful when you pull the rug out from under a person's strategies, because they may not yet be ready and you may not know what is under their contorl issues.

For a child who is responding in compulsive ways, the parent must work to replace the behavior with the security of relationship.

For an adult, what begins to change a person's compulsive behavior is realizing the cost their choices are having on others they care about. You must give up the role of trying to fix and take care of them in ways that enable their behavior. At the right time, He can use your courage of honestly communicating your sorrow over their choices to change them.