His Secret Obsession

Do you or someone you adore suffer with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? What's OCD and how could you recognize it? In all possible instances I advise one to seek professional help, but here I may 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 objective of forcing surrender. An obsession is truly a fight of the mind. Based on the diagnostic manual employed by mental health professionals, the DSM-IV, obsessions are "recurrent and persistent thoughts which can be experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause marked anxiety or distress." This is 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. A person will be tracking typical progressive thoughts and suddenly, bam!, a fresh unwanted, unexpected thought bursts to their mind. It's typically shocking and deemed culturally deplorable, such as a mother assailed by murderous thoughts while nursing her child.

 

What it isn't. An intrusive thought isn't only a passion. As a culture we apply the definition of obsession to many things that aren't true types of the disorder. A teen who is enthusiastic about her new boyfriend, or perhaps a point guard obsessed with his team winning the championship do not exemplify what it requires to be diagnosed with an obsessive problem. Thank goodness! Otherwise most of us with a passion for something might have OCD!

 

Recurrent thoughts:

 

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

 

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

 

Unwanted thoughts:

 

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX4yuCZ0gg4

What it isn't. An obsession is not an addiction. An obsession is unwanted, one-hundred percent of the time. Not with an addicted thought. A gambler desires to gamble, but resists the urge knowing that it ultimately is just a harmful span of action. Having an obsession, there's no enjoyment whatsoever.