What are your questions about OCD? What would you like to know?
I’m not a doctor, but I’ve lived it!
JACKIE LEA SOMMERS
Author & Advocate
What are your questions about OCD? What would you like to know?
I’m not a doctor, but I’ve lived it!
JACKIE LEA SOMMERS 
Are there any specific things you OC about?
Haha, I love that you wrote “J.R.”! 🙂 While my OCD is currently under control, my biggest obsessions were hell, sin, and hurting others, and my biggest compulsions were seeking reassurance and repetitive internal prayer.
For more details on common obsessions/compulsions, check out my post https://lightsallaround.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/ocd101-2/!
You have talked about the symptoms and internal feelings of OCD, but how well is the actual mechanism (neurological, chemical, etc.) understood?
Luke, what a great question! I have to admit that I’m no expert in the true science of OCD, but there is fascinating research being done all the time.
My psychiatrist is Dr. Suck Won Kim, who is an OCD genius and known nationally for his research. Check out a list of his publications online at http://www.impulsecontroldisorders.org/html/kimPublications.html. It’s a rather impressive list.
OCD, of course, affects the basal ganglia, and doctors *pretty much* know what circuitry has gone wrong in people with OCD. It is crazy to me that cognitive-behavioral therapy actually REWIRES an OC’s brain. The brain CHANGES.
Incredible stuff.
Do people with OCD all do “checking” behaviors, such as re-locking doors, counting everything, or doing things a certain number of times, or is that just the more severe cases?
Amy, all obsessive-compulsives have COMPULSIONS, but they vary widely from person to person. There are several different kinds of OCD, and checking is one of them. Others include hoarding, washing, ordering, and then there is this strange category called pure obsessional, in which the compulsions are sometimes a lot harder to spot (if you’re not trained and looking for them! If you are, then it’s pretty simple!): for example, seeking reassurance, compulsive guilt, repetitive actions like saying the same prayer over and over (even in your head!). When someone asks me if they have OCD, I first ask them why they think that. They will usually start by describing either an obsession or a compulsion. After that, I start asking lots of questions to see if I can find the other side– that is, if they described to me a compulsion, I’ll look for the obsession that is the root cause, or if they name an obsession, I’ll look for the compulsion that they use to alleviate the panic or disgust brought on by the obsession. If BOTH exist, then it’s OCD.
Also, for someone to truly have OCD, it has to cause distress. If someone has strange thoughts or is doing strange things, but they are not distressed by them, they are probably just quirky people! I’ve found most people have some kind of quirk! 🙂 But to– for example– simply be very clean and to say “I’m a little OCD” is just wrong … and offensive to those of us who do have OCD!