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Ronnie stops at the front door, turns, and runs back to the kitchen.
She reconfirms all four dials on her gas stove are off. She can go to work.
She stops halfway down the block. "Maybe I should have checked for a gas smell, too? Or asked my roommate if he smells anything?"
Going back home will make her late for work, but she needs to know.
This is all too familiar.
With the urge to double-check, her worry the apartment building will blow up because of her mistake, and the disruption to her routine, Ronnie's obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is flaring up.
Ronnie pauses at the front door, keys in hand. She takes a deep breath and remembers 4 coping strategies that have helped her manage OCD in the past.
Why is OCD hard to manage?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, causes a âvicious cycleâ where recurrent thoughts â or obsessions â create so much distress that a person feels pressured to respond with specific actions known as compulsions.
Did you know?
OCDâs obsession and compulsion cycle can quickly take over a personâs life. A US National Institute of Mental Health study found over half of adults with OCD may be severely impaired by the illness because âobsessions, doubt, and rumination mean that you may spend hours at a time repeating a task or questioning if it was done right."
Quiz: Is it OCD?
Which of these thought-and-action pairs could be symptoms of OCD? Choose all that apply.
Thought: I am contaminated after shaking hands with someone.
Action: I apply hand sanitizer, then use an alcohol wipe, and then wash my hands three times with soap and hot water.
Thought: I like a well-organized, nicely decorated office space.
Action: I buy a box of multi-colored file folders and re-organize my important papers in them.
Thought: If I accidentally left the faucet running, I will flood my downstairs neighborâs apartment.
Action: I go back and check that I turned off the tap, even though I just looked a minute ago.
Thought: Itâs possible I could lose control of my car and crash into a school bus.
Action: I wonât drive to work until I know ten school buses have gone safely past my house.
Quiz
Which of the above thought-action pairs sound like OCD? Select all that apply.
1, 3, and 4 could represent symptoms of OCD. In each of those examples, the uncomfortable, highly anxious thought (obsession) is followed up by repetitive behavior (compulsion) that the person feels will ease their anxiety. Number 2 reflects a need for order that is often associated with OCD. However, because the thought isn't an anxious one, and the action brings enjoyment rather than reducing anxiety, the thought-action pair doesn't seem to be a symptom of OCD.
Strategy 1: Try a Delay Tactic
It's difficult to manage OCD without support. If you feel your symptoms are changing or getting worse, reach out to your therapist or doctor as a first step. They may recommend therapy or medication to help manage symptoms.
In addition to your doctor or therapist's instructions, a strategy you might try on your own is exposure and ritual/response delay, or ERD.
The ERD technique requires you to pause for a short, specific amount of time before performing the compulsive action or behavior. Over time, you increase the delay, until eventually you can wait so long that the compulsion passes.
Ronnie seems to be trying ERD when she pauses before going back inside to check her oven again. Today, she might only be able to delay for a minute, but if she can wait three minutes next time, then five, then ten, she is slowly taking power away from her compulsion.
Strategy 2: Write It Out
Many people use journaling to cope with anxiety and other mental illnesses. It can help those living with OCD, too.
Set up a journal just for tracking your OCD symptoms. You might create columns that capture triggering situations, the issue (or obsession) that arose, and what action you took as a resolution (the compulsion).
A page from Ronnie's OCD journal might look like this:
When you feel comfortable, go back and review the journal details. Then, answer three questions that could help you take a different perspective on the doubts that OCD brings to mind:
Ronnie's answers to these questions show how they help her think about her fears differently and gain some control over her OCD responses:
Strategy 3: Redirect That Reassurance
When Ronnie wanted to ask her roommate if he smelled gas, she was displaying the common OCD compulsion called "reassurance seeking."
Someone with OCD might repeatedly ask another person to confirm that everything is okay as a way to temporarily relieve their anxiety.
Ronnie's roommate has learned that when she comes to him for reassurance, he can better support her by saying something like:
Strategy 4: Find Encouragement Online
![A woman at a cluttered desk with a laptop checks her smart phone.](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/learning-dev-89518.appspot.com/o/images%2F800%2F72344690-0164-11ee-ad83-47ce2c09bcaf.jpeg?alt=media&token=9ecdd6a8-2adf-4b07-9608-253004789777)
There are many reliable resources online that can give people living with OCD more information and help them connect with a supportive community when symptoms arise:
Check out The OCD Stories and OCD and Anxiety channels on YouTube for videos about the disorder.
Join an online OCD community, such as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Forum or The Mighty's OCD Community portal.
![Man searches for information on his tablet.](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/learning-dev-89518.appspot.com/o/images%2F800%2F04b3ab80-0171-11ee-9ca9-99bd2810a992.jpeg?alt=media&token=b14de79e-e1ea-4939-ab19-e72df2d6b7c8)
Seek websites published by expert mental health organizations, like:
Quiz
What are some reliable sources of support for your OCD symptoms? Select all that apply.
You can generally trust resources developed by qualified mental health professionals such as therapists, psychiatrists, or counselors. While itâs useful to have a network of friends to rely on when your symptoms flare up, remember that reassurance can actually work against you! Try reaching out to friends who understand how to provide support that doesnât play into a compulsion like reassurance-seeking.
Take Action
If you feel your OCD symptoms starting to flare up, try these strategies to help you manage OCD:
This Byte has been authored by
AK Liss
Learning Designer