Compulsions vs Average Behaviors.
How to separate between average behaviors and a compulsive behavior?
Often in treatment, a question arises of is this behavior average or is this behavior a compulsion? In therapy, we will look to educate and better understand aspects of OCD to help you differentiate between the two. Understanding the differences between the two will allow a person to either starve or feed their OCD. As we hear often, knowledge is power; and with OCD, we want to be knowledgeable of what is OCD and what is not. Lets look at some examples of these two behaviors.
Obsessions:
Intrusive thoughts.
Unwanted thoughts.
Come to our mind against our will.
Cause distress- anger, guilt, shame.
Can be repetitive.
Can be thoughts, images, urges, fears or doubts.
Compulsions:
Mental or physical rituals used to get relief.
Negatively reinforces the obsessions.
Offer temporary relief from obsessions.
Feeling compelled to engage in the compulsion.
Can be done repetitively.
Example of Compulsions:
Checking- physical or mental.
Rumination.
Reassurance seeking.
Researching.
Avoidance.
Distractions.
How to know if you’re engaging in compulsions?
Compulsions being an excessive response.
Difficult to resist the behavior.
Temporarily relieves distress from the obsessions.
Takes up time that interferes with your functioning- can be over an hour a day total on compulsive behaviors.
Might feel like an automatic response to the obsession.
Feeling worse if you resist short term.
There is no pleasure from the thoughts or behaviors, but there is distress.
Average behaviors are exactly what they are, average. A person might not feel compelled to do an average behavior, or there might not be distress if they don’t do that behavior. That average behavior might not be excessive or repetitive. A person might not dwell or ruminate over average behaviors. One may be able to let go of that obsession/urge or thought with ease.
Compulsions are reinforced over time. That is when they start looking like an automatic response to an obsession. It can happen so fast that automatic behavior. While the compulsion offers relief in the short term, it looks to cause long term distress as the OCD is being strengthened all along the way. Compulsions are the fuel to the OCD fire. By starving the OCD of the compulsions, a person is left with dealing with the obsession and the distress. That is where exposure and response prevention treatment (ERP) comes into play. By following the evidence based practices of ERP, one can look to make significant changes with their OCD.
Treatment for OCD:
Treatment for all forms of OCD is the gold standard of treatment, exposure and response prevention (ERP). Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) looks at the idea that triggering situations and thoughts are at the core of OCD. Ongoing exposure to these triggers without engagement in rituals can reduce the severity felt. As a licensed mental health therapist trained in ERP, I will assist you through the exposures and how to implement effective response prevention measures. If you feel that OCD has had a negative impact on your life, you might consider counseling and ERP to learn how to handle it more effectively. Please feel free to reach out for a free consultation, where we can discuss the impacts of OCD and benefits of counseling/ERP.
