OCD Episode

[hound]

Hi,

I've been in therapy for the last 4 years, and have grown tremendously through the counseling and use of medication. However, I've recently had another episode and this is the thought that's bugging me:

I have OCD and therefore there is something "wrong" (cursed/contaminated) with everything around me. For those that do not have OCD, there is nothing wrong with anything. It's just me and others who suffer from OCD.

Another thought I've recently had is that I have OCD and that has given me special insight into the world around me - namely, I can see that there is something "wrong" with stuff. For those who do not have OCD, they lack the "ability" to see these things.

Can anyone help provide some rational logic on helping me settle these thoughts?

Thank you!

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I think there are either different "types" of OCD or at least different aspects of them, but fundamentally they are all about one basic thing: Attempts to impose order and predictability and certainty on a world which isn't very certain or predictable as a means of reducing anxiety. At times of stress, these tendencies become more pronounced.

That sense of things "being right" is quite common in OCD -- it's a perceptual thing -- things must be straight, aligned properly, organized in a certain way, everything in its place -- when they are, the OCD sufferer is able to "relax" (somewhat: it's relative thing) because the world is for the moment safe; when things are not "right", anxiety increases and worry/fears about "the unknown"/"something happening" become ascendant -- when the individual can put things "back" so they are again "right", the anxiety/fear subsides again...