Most people see OCD as several sessions of handwashing or straightening pencils but I do my best to dispel these rumors. For they are rumors. OCD is so much more than that. For me, one way OCD manifests is the need to ‘check’. Check to make sure my journal is safe. Check to see my fireproof box is closed. Check on where my headphones are. Checking is probably the biggest symptom left over from childhood. I have developed several strategies to combat checking and I’ve tried to describe them below. But OCD is tricky and everyone is different. What might work for someone else might not work for you. Still, trying the strategies outlined below couldn’t hurt.
Thinking of another object. If you are worried about where your journal or library book is, turn your attention to another object that you may or may not know where it is. If you DO know where it is it will give you some confidence and stability. If you DON’T this could divert some attention from your initial worry (two OCD worries don’t usually occupy the same amount of worries in a person’s head)
Visualization. Picturing where your MIAO (missing in action object) is really works. It doesn’t even have to be accurate so long as you can see that object in that environment
Logic. OCD does not respond to logic. OCD defies logic. But I’ve gotten quite well at reasoning with it. ‘Would anyone get rid of my object’ ‘Would anyone move my item?’ are the top two questions I ask.
Exposure therapy. You need to expose yourself to this situation, to the fear, the fright. It’s overwhelming but I don’t think anyone has actually died from OCD’s fears. Done systematically or with a therapist, exposure therapy has been hailed as the best solution to a bad case of OCD.
For those of you who don’t have OCD, some of this might be a little confusing. OCD is a thought disorder so it reigns in the worst place we know it to: our own heads. Hopefully this blog post helped a little.
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