Is this stealing or OCD?
I’m crossing the parking lot on my way to my car when I spot a man trying car door handles. I reach for my phone to call the police. Now I’m watching him to get a description for the police. That’s when I notice that he keeps returning to the same car and trying the same door.
That’s OCD. This is a case of checking and re-checking.
Why do people do this?
The answer is massive anxiety. Anxiety fuels all types of OCD behaviors.
OCD made its way into everyday jargon. People say to one another, “Oh, you’re so OCD!” but they mean you are too organized, structured, rigid, or inflexible.That is not what true OCD is.
There are recurring, disturbing, intrusive (obsessive) thoughts that cannot be controlled. They compel the person to engage in specific and repetitive corrective action. If the person is stopped from performing the actions or tries to stop himself, he is flooded with overwhelming anxiety.
The thoughts and the actions the person is compelled to perform to ward off the anxiety take up a lot of time and are disruptive to daily life. The whole process makes it hard to concentrate at school or work.
Adults suffering from this disorder realize that their actions are illogical, but they cannot stop themselves. Children do not see the illogic of their intrusive thoughts or actions.
You may have intrusive thoughts about something you consider pleasurable but decide to give up. For example, comfort foods when you’re on a diet or alcohol or drugs when you’re working on sobriety.
These thoughts are not foreign, sinful, repulsive, or scary to you. They are thoughts of things you enjoy but decided to give up.
OCD is very different. Here are some examples of true intrusive thoughts and the accompanying compulsions.
The intrusive thoughts (obsessions) cause certain behaviors (compulsions).
Fear of losing or forgetting to do something leads to checking and re-checking or doing and re-doing. For example, checking the house front door or car door multiple times to make sure you locked it, repeatedly going back home to make sure you turned off the oven, checking and re-checking that you have your keys and wallet, or twisting the cap on the toothpaste tube multiple times to ensure it’s closed.
Fear of germs or illness leads to repeated handwashing or repeated cleaning of cleaned surfaces.
The extreme need to have things in symmetrical order leads to moving objects on tables, even at someone else’s house. Another example is not being able to start homework or work on projects until the items on the desk are lined up in a specific way. Alternatively, a sequence of events must be performed in an exact order or cannot be done at all.
Fear of acting on aggressive thoughts toward others can lead to repeated ritual behaviors. Sometimes, it can be silent counting. Other times, the person may walk over cracks in the pavement or take two steps forward and three steps back. At times, the rituals are more involved, like walking along the walls of hallways and turning to the right or left at intervals.
Fear of acting on intrusive, unwanted, sinful thoughts, such as sexual thoughts. This can lead to ongoing praying, repeating certain words silently, or superstitious behaviors to ward off the frightening thoughts.
Intrusive thoughts are not the only symptoms of OCD. There are also involuntary actions.
Not all patients with OCD experience these symptoms. These include unusual and repetitive eye movements, head and shoulder jerking, making faces, grunting, or throat clearing. As in tic disorders, these movements cannot be controlled.
Getting stuck or freezing in place means that you cannot perform a normal function because if you try to do the next step, you get flooded with anxiety. This can be crossing the street, walking through doorways, getting in or out of the car, or picking up a pen to write or draw. You get stuck and stand or sit there motionless.
This is not discussed in the literature, but I’ve seen three people who suffered from OCD who experienced such problems.
OCD can affect children and adults. Children will try to make you part of their ritualistic behavior. They may tell you to do things in a specific order or insist that you tuck them in a certain way. You can see that your child is anxious, and you want to help.
I recommend against complying with such requests. While it may ease their anxiety for a minute, other demands involving you in their rituals will follow. You will not get anything done, and your child will remain anxious.
Massive anxiety fuels the whole system. The intrusive thoughts (obsessions) trigger the anxiety, and the behaviors (compulsions) are meant to ease the anxiety.
It sounds like all one has to do is get rid of the anxiety and get rid of this disorder. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy because the intrusive thoughts remain.
Many self-help methods are floating around on the internet, but they focus on the illogic of intrusive thoughts and teach you how to ignore the thoughts while reducing anxiety.
That’s the hard way of going about it. OCD is disabling enough without adding the stress of trying to manage it yourself.
There are psychiatric medications that help alleviate or reduce the symptoms. I recommend that you consult a psychiatrist as well as a therapist who specializes in OCD.