Health

You can fight against the obsessions and rituals of obsessive compulsive disorder (or OCD) through daily actions. Your psychiatrist and your loved ones will help you.

HOW CAN I CHANGE MY THOUGHTS?

The obsessions linked to your illness do not reflect reality in any way. If, with each intrusive thought or compulsion, you think "this is not reality, it is a false message sent by my brain that makes me react like this", you will be able to give it less importance and attention.

When an intrusive thought arises, do not hesitate to write it down. This will allow you to see how repetitive it is, and this will weaken its power over you.

You can also record your obsessions and play the recording back to yourself every day, until you no longer feel panicked when listening to it. Indeed, by regularly confronting yourself with your obsession or anxiety, it will have less hold over you.

WHY CHANGE MY BEHAVIOR?

When you give in to a compulsion, your brain records that you believe there is danger, which reinforces your obsession. The goal of changing behavior is to show the brain that there is no danger and that it is useless to react. In this way, it records new information and, through repetition, is “reprogrammed”.

Here are some examples of behaviors to adopt:

Sabotage your rituals, practice opposites: What must remain clean must become dirty. If you persist in polishing, deliberately re-dirty it. Put your books away without worrying about their size, mix them up on purpose.
Be patient: When you want to perform a ritual, delay it for at least fifteen minutes by concentrating on something else. Then, re-evaluate the urgency of your compulsion, you will see that the intensity of your anxiety will have diminished. The more you delay the moment when you give in to a compulsion, the more you increase your chances of overcoming it.

WHY IMPROVE MY QUALITY OF LIFE TO BETTER CONTROL MY OCD?

Stress and anxiety make the disease worse. A balanced and healthy life, on the contrary, helps reduce symptoms.

Practice relaxation exercises that reduce the stress and anxiety generated by the disease.
Don't hesitate to have regular physical activity. Sport also reduces stress, forces you to concentrate on an activity and think about something other than obsessions.
Make sure you eat regularly because hypoglycemia causes anxiety and stress reactions in some people.
Preserve your sleep. Lack of sleep also exacerbates anxiety.

WHO CAN HELP ME?

A psychiatrist can suggest exercises for you to do.

You can also join an OCD association, which will allow you to share your experience and get support and advice from people who also struggle with their obsessions and compulsions on a daily basis.

OCD can be socially isolating because it is very time-consuming. It is therefore important to maintain relationships with family and friends, especially since social isolation makes the disease worse.

Living with your OCD requires taking an active stance, along with following the treatment prescribed by your psychiatrist. Overcoming your obsessions and compulsions can take time. Fighting a little each day is important.