Obsessive-compulsive disorder thoughts and behaviors are difficult to control

Tweety is an 18-year-old Form 5 student who lives with her parents.

She was born in the Mainland and settled in Hong Kong with her family when she was 17.

While enrolling in a boarding school in the Mainland, Tweety was bullied, teased and excluded by her classmates, which disturbed her emotionally.

One day, she suddenly felt that her hands and feet were dirty, so she cleaned her hands and feet many times.

Since then, some repetitive thoughts have appeared in her mind from time to time. Most of these thoughts are about some unfortunate things, such as car accidents, accidents, natural disasters, etc.

Because of these thoughts, she would repeatedly do some behaviors, such as washing hands for half an hour, walking the same way back and forth repeatedly, sitting down and standing repeatedly, repeatedly opening and closing doors, etc., in order to calm the anxiety caused by these terrible thoughts.

In fact, Tweety understands that these behaviors are meaningless, but those repetitive and terrible thoughts will still appear, making her feel anxious, so it is difficult to control herself not to do these repetitive behaviors.

Written by: Xin Xuheng, Associate Consultant, School of Mental Health, Castle Peak Hospital

In the past year to live in Hong Kong, her emotional problems have gradually deteriorated, she feels more anxious, and she is often worried about her safety. She has to repeat some behaviors to try to eliminate these worries and feelings of anxiety, which has brought a lot of inconvenience and trouble to her life. .

In the end, Tweety was referred to the psychiatric clinic by the general clinic. The psychiatrist diagnosed that she was suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder and required medication and psychotherapy.

After treatment, Tweety’s symptoms improved and she was able to successfully complete the Diploma of Secondary Education and continue her studies.

Difficult to get rid of obsessive thinking patients are prone to mental distress

The society generally doesn't understand OCD, and even thinks that people with OCD just like cleanliness and neatness.

In fact, obsessive-compulsive disorder is a kind of anxiety disorder, which mainly includes three parts: obsessive thoughts, obsessive behaviors and the accompanying tension.

"Compulsive thoughts" will be repeated in their minds, and patients know that these thoughts are superfluous and irrational, but they often cannot prevent or get rid of the appearance of these thoughts, which makes the patients feel distressed.

Seventy percent of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder will develop the disease before the age of 25, which has a profound impact on academics and life.

(Data Picture/Photo by Yu Junliang)

"Compulsive behavior" includes repeated inspections, repeated hand washing, repeated actions in accordance with a fixed procedure, collecting a lot of unnecessary things, constantly counting, repeating a word, etc.

The patient hopes to use compulsive behaviors to reduce their psychological pressure or "neutralize" their obsessive thoughts, and even hope to prevent some unfortunate things from happening, but the patient also understands that these thoughts are unreasonable.

These compulsive thoughts and behaviors are very time-consuming, and will have a negative impact on all aspects of the patient's life, and will also make the patient feel depressed, anxious, nervous, afraid and guilty.

Most patients have had the disease before the age of 25

The average age of onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder is about 20 years old, and 70% of patients will develop the disease before the age of 25.

The incidence of men and women is similar, and the age of onset of men is generally earlier than that of women.

About one in 50 people will suffer from OCD at some point in their lives.

There are many causes of obsessive-compulsive disorder, including: genetics (such as a family member suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder), psychological factors (such as persistent personality, great attention to details, extremely high moral standards, etc.), physiological factors (such as brain serotonin imbalance) ), and environmental stress (such as bullying) may also cause illness.

The treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder includes psychotherapy and medication.

Psychotherapy is mainly cognitive behavioral therapy. Clinical psychologists will guide patients to gradually face the anxiety-causing situation, and at the same time allow patients to learn to prevent themselves from doing compulsive behaviors until the anxiety gradually calms down, so as to reduce the obsessiveness of compulsive behaviors in life.

At the same time, clinical psychologists will assist patients to judge their unreasonable thoughts, and slowly guide patients to look at things from another angle.

Regulating brain serotonin drugs improve symptoms

Medications are mainly drugs that regulate brain serotonin, and the dose for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder is usually higher than the dose required for the treatment of depression, and the recovery speed is relatively slow. It may take several weeks or even months for the patient to complete the situation. It will get better gradually.

Drug treatment takes at least one year, and there is a chance of recurrence after stopping the drug.

Seek medical attention and receive treatment as soon as possible when emotional distress occurs.

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If you are troubled by compulsive thoughts and behaviors like Tweety, you should seek medical attention and receive treatment as soon as possible to truly get rid of your inner anxiety and anxiety.

"Hong Kong 01" "01 Medical Clinic" cooperated with the School of Mental Health of Castle Peak Hospital to publish a column written by medical staff every other Tuesday.

"Cheng" means to let the water stand still, let the water settle, and then become clear.

May you calmly savour every little story, see the little knowledge, understand the inner heart of yourself and others, and see things and feelings more clearly.

See clearly, know how to cherish, I hope this column can soothe your emotional waves and enjoy the peace of the years.

I hope you can share this experience with the people you care about, so that you can have one more partner on the road to a better life.

The details of the story have been modified to protect the privacy of the patient.

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