General OCD Question

[zoziw]

I see a lot of the posts on this forum seem to deal with ongoing obsessions that seem to be life long (ie. germs and such).

I was wondering, do some OCD people have shorter term and a greater variety of obsessions?

By this I mean, can an event you experience trigger an irrational obsession that manages to intrude heavily into your thoughts for a period of weeks to months before finally going away?

Lastly, can these sudden obsessions be completely unrelated to any past fear or concern?

Thanks,

 

[seajoy]

I see a lot of the posts on this forum seem to deal with ongoing obsessions that seem to be life long (ie. germs and such).

I was wondering, do some OCD people have shorter term and a greater variety of obsessions?

By this I mean, can an event you experience trigger an irrational obsession that manages to intrude heavily into your thoughts for a period of weeks to months before finally going away?

Lastly, can these sudden obsessions be completely unrelated to any past fear or concern?

Thanks,

Certain events can trigger some obsessions.

My Grandmother has ocd...the major germ/cleaning one. She was raised by a nasty stepmother, who beat her if the house wasn't perfectly clean.

I have had a few different types of ocd obsessions. They have mostly been about sickness, and my major one religion. I was raised going to a lutheran church, but my parents believed in a more fundamentalist fashion, so I got very confused about what I was supposed to think. Since the most important thing to me was God...I was afraid no matter what I believed, it wasn't correct.

My daughter has the type of ocd where she obsesses about dying or dead things. She came across a dead animal as a child, and it became her obsession.

Yes, there is lots of ocd in my family. My grandma has not been diagnosed, but my daughter and I have. I believe we would have had the disorder no matter how we grew up...but these were our life experiences, so that's why our obsessions are what they are.

I heard of a lady once who had the obsession of being afraid she ran over someone, after she and her husband had been in a car accident.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

seajoy

 

[zoziw]

Thanks for the info.

After praying, reading and thinking about this I now think the only advice I can give is for the person to bring it up with their family doctor and go from their.

I didn't realize when I posted this that it is a psychiatric issue as oppose to a psychological one. Not that I am entirely clear on the difference, but it seems the best advice to give is to see a doctor.

Thanks also to the other people who have posted in other threads about this issue.

 

[Ruth~]

My ocd was really bad and then when all the stress was taken away and I got on medicine it went away for quite awhile. Then recently I have been under a lot of stress and it has come back. I thought it was gone for good so this was a disappointment. I'm going to talk to my doctor about it soon.

 

[seajoy]

My ocd was really bad and then when all the stress was taken away and I got on medicine it went away for quite awhile. Then recently I have been under a lot of stress and it has come back. I thought it was gone for good so this was a disappointment. I'm going to talk to my doctor about it soon.

You are so right, Ruth. Stress can really make ocd "act up." Hope your stressors go away soon! Please do make an appointment with your doctor. I'm sure that will help. Best to 'nip it' right away!

seajoy