Strictly from a clinical perspective, OCD is not broken down into its various subtypes. When psychiatrists diagnose a person with OCD, OCD is OCD. Neither more, nor less. Since treatment is not...
Compulsions such as washing, checking, rearranging, counting and repeating are visible to others. But there are presentations of OCD which have intrusive thoughts or obsessions but no apparent...
ROCD can be of three types - Type 1- where you doubt your love for your partner, Type 2 - where you doubt your partner’s love for you, and Type 3 (Doron et al, 2012a) - where you doubt if the...
Usually, ROCD is understood to impact only romantic relationships. However, since OCD can morph into just about any form, there are other forms of ROCD that are also observed, that may not be...
Relationships are not always healthy. An unhealthy relationship does not necessarily indicate the presence of ROCD. You need to have a correct assessment about your relationship rather than diagnose...
Let us look at thirteen tell-tale signs that may indicate that you have ROCD Type 1. Before that though, here’s a word of caution - unless you are clinically diagnosed by a professional,...
Let us now look at the fourteen questions I have compiled for you to determine if you may have ROCD Type 2. Make sure you are indeed diagnosed with ROCD by a professional. If you want to...
Let us look at the questions I have compiled to help you determine if you have ROCD Type 3, that is relationship focused ROCD. If you are indeed diagnosed with ROCD by a mental health professional,...
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but without beating around the bush, let me tell you that sadly, there is no miracle cure for OCD. But I am certain you know that by now. People often get...
Most people who have OCD, and are yet to understand the premise of recovery want their intrusive thoughts to stop. If you read social media posts of people struggling with OCD, many of them talk...
Let us now talk about two factors that majorly affect recovery in ROCD - the severity of the disorder, and the efforts made by the person. Severity: The first factor is the severity of the...
As indicated, recovery in ROCD is not just a matter of getting medicines, popping pills and being done with it. Recovery from ROCD requires a change - a lifestyle change. I come across many people...
A question that is frequently asked by many who want to understand how recovery in ROCD works is - what is better for recovery; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Exposure and Response Prevention...
As discussed in the previous chapter, cognitive distortions are thought patterns that may convince us of things that are not necessarily true or correct. Since our mental wellbeing depends upon the...
The second pillar of recovery is ERP. ERP stands for exposure and response prevention. It is also sometimes referred to as Exposure and Ritual Prevention and/or notated as Ex/RP, and there is really...
When you hear the word mindfulness, what image do you see in your mind? Most people when they hear the word visualize the Buddha sitting in a lotus position with his eyes closed, and some oriental...
Jon Kabat-Zinn, the foremost authority in mindfulness and the developer of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program gives us the seven attitudinal foundations of mindfulness. The seven...
The MAAS assesses two aspects of mindfulness - your attention and your awareness. Following is a simple exercise to develop better awareness to improve attention. Exercise to build awareness:...
When your brain perceives danger, it responds with a ‘stress response’ and you feel anxious. Engaging in relaxation exercises may help you deal with your anxiety and you may feel calmer. There are...
What exactly is acceptance? When I pose this question to people, some of them feel that they have accepted their ROCD. Upon probing, it emerges that they do not accept it, but they acknowledge its...