Sound sensitivity can be common among individuals with OCD, anxiety disorders, and/or Tourette Syndrome.
While there is not an abundance of research with music therapy and patients with OCD, some strategies have been effective in helping the effects of OCD in individuals. In order to address music therapy techniques for patients with OCD, the foundations of general counseling and therapeutic techniques must be considered.
“Music engages the reward system in your brain; it aids focus and helps dissipate intrusive thoughts. It also facilitates entrainment,” Dr. Kauffman says. The process of entrainment is the foundation of music therapy.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): Someone with OCD might feel stress over situations that are out of their control, such as being touched. Ochlophobia (fear of crowds): A person may feel anxious about being touched in a crowd.
This means that someone experiencing this mental health condition might display patterns of alternating clingy behavior and a tendency to push their partner away. They might fluctuate between praising their partnership and considering their relationship doomed to fail or riddled with problems.
OCD can involve obsessions or compulsions of many kinds. But what if your obsessions are towards another person? Limerence is a term that describes an infatuation or obsession with another person. It stems from romantic attraction that involuntarily develops into obsessive thoughts.
These evidence all points to the serotonergic effects on the regulation of glutamate levels. Thus, music therapy could potentially alleviate OCD symptoms by increasing serotonin levels for the regulation of glutamate hyperactivity in the CSTC loop.
Music-Related Symptoms in OCD Patients. Many individuals also experience involuntary musical imagery, or “earworms”, which occur when a repetitive piece of music is spontaneously and involuntarily recalled inside the “mind's ear” [20].
It has long been suggested that music can help reduce or manage stress. Consider the trend centered on meditative music created to soothe the mind and inducing relaxation. Fortunately, this is one trend supported by research. Listening to music can be an effective way to cope with stress.
Katy Perry
Singer-songwriter Katy Perry struggles with more than just the paparazzi. The pop star admits to being something of a germaphobe and practices “crazy cleaning rituals in her house.” She has on occasion, talked about her struggle. “I'm so OCD,” Perry told a Z100 radio host.
Trauma, stress, and abuse all can be a cause of OCD getting worse. OCD causes intense urges to complete a task or perform a ritual. For those who have the condition, obsessions and compulsions can begin to rule their life.
Attend to the intrusive thoughts; accept them and allow them in, then allow them to move on. Don't fear the thoughts; thoughts are just that—thoughts. Don't let them become more than that. Take intrusive thoughts less personally, and let go of your emotional reaction to them.
When you suffer from OCD, you attempt to manage your intrusive thoughts and the anxiety they cause by seeking reassurance from yourself. This type of self-talk can be easily mistaken for positive self-talk or positive affirmations that we know to be effective when we are dealing with anxiety.
Auditory hallucinations involve hearing things that aren't there — voices, bangs, music, or other noises. One survey-based study dating back to 2009 found that many non-schizophrenic people with OCD have auditory hallucinations, although they're often distinguishable from “real” sounds or voices.
Drastic fluctuations in mood can often occur in individuals with OCD. This can be for various reasons. One reason is that the unwanted thoughts, images, or impulses can trigger intense emotions.
When we listen to pleasurable music, the “pleasure chemical” dopamine is released in the striatum, a key part of the brain's reward system. Importantly, music activates the striatum just like other rewarding stimuli, such as food and sex.
OCD can have a profound effect on a person's life
The person may avoid anything that might trigger their obsessive fears. OCD can make it difficult for people to perform everyday activities like eating, drinking, shopping or reading. Some people may become housebound.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is marked by a cycle of unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) and can cause a wide range of symptoms in patients. If you or a loved one has OCD, these symptoms likely include bouts of anger or rage.
OCD might make you think thoughts, that if you were to say out loud, could seem irrational and dangerous. Thoughts you, as a person without OCD, would never think about, let alone act out. 2. OCD might trick you into thinking these thoughts are directly a result of your own beliefs.
To understand the OCD mind, many researchers explain the brain is stuck, in a sense. It replays a particular thought over and over again, like a broken record. In other words, it tricks the sufferer. They cannot trust their own judgment.
Retroactive jealousy OCD is a condition characterized by obsessive and intrusive thoughts about a partner's past romantic or sexual experiences. These thoughts can lead to intense feelings of jealousy, insecurity, and anxiety, even if the events in question occurred long before the current relationship began.
Psychologists categorize pathological jealousy and self-doubt in a relationship as relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder (ROCD), one of the many forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Common obsessive thoughts in OCD include:
Fear of losing control and harming yourself or others. Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images. Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas. Fear of losing or not having things you might need.