OCD Symptoms: Obsessions

A normal obsessive compulsive disorder sufferer is doing various tasks, depending on the individual, in order to get rid of various obsessions. Those tasks actually turn into compulsions through repetition. OCD obsessions vary from individual to individual in intensity and clarity. As such, these obsessions can be:

1. Vague OCD Obsessions

These obsessions are generated by an internal tension of the sufferer mixed with the thought that life cannot carry on in its normal fashion unless compulsions are performed.

2. Clear OCD Obsessions

Clear OCD obsessions are more vivid and straightforward compared to vague OCD obsessions. For example, a clear OCD obsession is the thought of inflicting pain through violence upon others and oneself. Nonetheless, OCD sufferers usually do not apply and do not enjoy such obsessions. They are actually disturbed by them and by the fact that they have them.

Everyone has such obsessions, according to various studies performed in US universities. The difference between OCD sufferers and the rest of the population is that these thoughts turn into obsessions and they stick inside their minds.

Obsessive compulsive disorder obsessions are persistent, they recur frequently and are unwanted by the sufferer due to the fact that they cause anxiety upon him. These obsessions can also appear, other than as thoughts, as images – short flashes inside the mind of the sufferer, as small films – same as images, or as impulses.

OCD obsessions act in such a way that they appear very frequently and indiscriminately inside the thought process of the sufferer, overwriting current thoughts and shifting internal attention towards them. As such, the level of anxiety created by OCD obsessions is very high and, at times, given my personal experience, it could lead to various external signs such as excessive sweat.

Most OCD sufferers try to combat their own obsessions by trying to overwrite them with other, better, thoughts or trying not to think about them at all. This is being done because OCD sufferers do realize that the obsessions are a creation of their own mind and not something real, palpable.

Most of the time – actually, all of the time – obsessions are in stark opposition with the real thoughts of the individual that is having them which increases anxiety.

Also, there are circumstances when OCD obsessions are triggered by the wish of the sufferers for perfectionism, the wish to do things perfectly. As a personal example, a couple of years ago when I was doing web design I got frustrated because I couldn’t fit a 719 pixels box perfectly into the center of the screen. Why was that? It was because the screen was 800 pixels in length so there would be 81 pixels left to divide between the left side of the screen and the right side of the screen. I had to put one extra pixel on either the right side or the left side and that got me boiling with anxiety – no, I couldn’t add 1 px to the box unfortunately – and grew into an obsession. It is only when I presented this issue to a third party – a friend – that I got a good slap on the back of my head and returned to reality (please note that this isn’t a medically approved procedure; do at your own risk).

It might be helpful for you to know about the various kinds of OCD obsessions. Here are some of the most important types:

1. There are obsessions that give birth to the thought that someone or something, a third party, will inflict harm on the sufferer or on people, creatures or objects that the sufferer cares about.

2. Other obsessions are a result of sufferers despising various concepts and fearing their materialization through actions that are completely independent of said concepts.

3. There are also sexual obsessions. These obsessions involve thoughts/images/impulses related to kissing, touching, having sex with strangers, acquaintances, parents. There are also sexual obsessions related to thoughts about the sexual orientation of the sufferer as a result of the sufferer’s crisis of sexual identity.

OCD obsessions are usually accompanied by various levels of doubt due to the fear of the sufferer that they might somehow act upon them. As such, they could lead to consistent self-criticism and thus low levels self-confidence.

This concludes our article on OCD obsessions. If you want to add on top of what we wrote here or if you’d like to share your experience with obsessive compulsive disorder obsessions then don’t hesitate to post a comment.

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