Varying Types of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the Effects of Living with It.

Varying Types of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the Effects of Living with It

Anna L. Sloey

Bellwood-Antis High School

VARYING TYPES OF OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER 2

“Imagine the feeling of having a song stuck in your head. Now imagine that instead of

‘It’s Raining Men,’ it’s the thought of murdering your best friend. In graphic detail. Over and

over again. You’re not mad at your best friend, and you’ve never done anything violent, but it

won’t stop playing,” (Tartakovsky, 2017). People living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

(OCD) have thoughts like this everyday. These ideas may not be violent, but they do continue to

repeat and these thoughts can lead to compulsions. Merriam-Webster defines compulsions as,

“an irresistible persistent impulse to perform an act (as excessive hand washing).” This disorder

is one with not much attention drawn to it, and no one really knows what causes OCD and how it

can be treated.

I researched the topic of OCD because I wanted to know what causes it and the effects of

living every day of your life with this disorder. I have seen on many different occasions people

living with OCD. Everyone seems to handle the disorder differently: different symptoms,

different treatment plans, and different compulsions. I believe that OCD is caused by

environmental factors and that all people living with OCD see things differently.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder was formerly considered an anxiety disorder, it is now

thought of as a unique condition (Bhandari, 2016). This unique condition leads to all different

kinds of issues. It is currently estimated that approximately 1 in 40 adults in the U.S. (2.3 percent of the population) and 1 in 100 children have this condition (​BeyondOCD,

​ 2017). People with OCD carry intense shame about the disorder, and this makes it an isolating illness.

Individuals with OCD have no intention of committing these acts, this makes the thoughts very

VARYING TYPES OF OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER 3

distressing. To counteract the distress, they engage in rituals, such as replaying their day trying

to avoid accidents (Tartakovsky, 2017). Rituals may vary from person to person, they may be

thoughts, actions, or violent measures. OCD comes in many different forms. For example,

scrupulosity is a type of OCD where people suffer from persistent, irrational thoughts about not

being devout or moral enough (Diance, n.d.).

OCD can be seen in different ways. Some different types of OCD include:

contamination, checking and repeating, symmetry and ordering, homophobia and sexuality, harm

and aggression, hit and run, and hoarding. Those who suffer from the contamination form of

OCD are afraid of getting sick or making others sick by the spread of germs through door knobs

or hand-shaking. They will have compulsions of excessive hand washing, bathing, and

grooming. Individuals who suffer from symmetry and ordering must have everything neat and organized. They will constantly reorganize and place things at perfect angles (​OCD Ottawa

​ , 2017). Those who have “checking” OCD will continue to look things over to make sure

everything is in place where no disaster will occur. The main focus of those with sexual