His Secret Obsession

Do you or someone you love suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? What's OCD and how can you recognize it? In most possible instances I advise one to seek professional help, but here I will also attempt to offer a simple description of a mental disorder that's often misunderstood. Unlike other mental disorders which require recognizing anywhere from four nine symptoms, His Secret Obsession only requires recognition of two problems, obsessions and compulsions.

What's an Obsession?

The term's Latin root, obsidere, means "to besiege," as an army would surround an area for the goal of forcing surrender. An obsession is actually a struggle of the mind. In line with the diagnostic manual utilized by mental health professionals, the DSM-IV, obsessions are "recurrent and persistent thoughts which are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress." The definition highlights four main qualities of clinical obsessions: intrusive, recurrent, unwanted, and inappropriate. Children might not experience each one of these symptoms at once.

Intrusive thoughts:

Intrusive describes images and ideas that invade a person's mind interrupting the standard mental flow. An individual will be tracking typical progressive thoughts and suddenly, bam!, a fresh unwanted, unexpected thought bursts into their mind. It's typically shocking and deemed culturally deplorable, such as for instance a mother assailed by murderous thoughts while nursing her child.

What it isn't. An intrusive thought is not merely a passion. As a culture we apply the word obsession to many things which are not true samples of the disorder. An adolescent who is involved with her new boyfriend, or perhaps a point guard obsessed with his team winning the championship do not exemplify what it takes to be diagnosed with an obsessive problem. Thank goodness! Otherwise many of us with a passion for something could have OCD!

Recurrent thoughts:

The patient experiences the intrusive thought repeatedly, described by one individual as a "constant bombardment that never stops." The sufferer feels powerless, hopeless, and is vulnerable to addictions which are utilized for escape.

What it is not. An obsession is not a phobia. A phobia can be avoided and therefore the mental poison stop. If I'm afraid of flying, I can avoid distress by avoiding planes. No planes, no obsessive fears. An His Secret Obsession sufferer experiences the recurrent, singular obsessive thought regardless of proximity to the stressor. Someone who fears germs can be in a properly sterile environment, and know it to be so, yet not stop the obsessive thoughts.

Unwanted thoughts:

Try as they might, an individual can't seem to avoid the intrusive thoughts. They're terrorists who infiltrate all defenses, the army that breaches the parameter. Ironically, the more one resists the thoughts, the stronger their attack.

What it isn't. An obsession is no addiction. An obsession is unwanted, one-hundred percent of the time. Not too with an addicted thought. A gambler really wants to gamble, but resists the urge knowing so it ultimately is just a harmful course of action. With an obsession, there's no enjoyment whatsoever.