People struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are often misdiagnosed as having other psychological conditions. One of the most common misdiagnoses for this population is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This diagnostic problem arises for two reasons.
While some symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be clear, others can appear in a number of other mental health conditions, like anxiety disorders, depression, schizophrenia, and autism.
ADHD and OCD are two mental health conditions that may appear to share some symptoms. However, ADHD is externalizing in nature, affecting how individuals relate to their environment. By contrast, OCD is internalizing in nature, meaning individuals respond to anxiety by turning inward.
OCD is ruled by intrusive thoughts called, obsessions that cause anxiety and force the person to perform compulsions for relief. OCPD is ruled by perfectionism and detail. Unlike individuals with OCD, people with OCPD are not self-aware and can hurt the people around them.
In fact, OCPD may interfere with a person's social relationships. But it's not OCD. Individuals with OCPD like the world the way they shape it. By contrast, people with OCD don't like what's happening to them and are overwhelmed by the thoughts and fears that invade their minds.
You may have obsessive thoughts of a violent or sexual nature that you find repulsive or frightening. But they're just thoughts and having them does not mean you'll act on them. These thoughts are classed as OCD if they cause you distress or have an impact on the quality of your life.
For example, being obsessed about football, shopping, sex or other enjoyable pastimes is a far cry from OCD, where a person takes no enjoyment and the obsessions focus on the mundane.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and compulsions and has been associated with psychosocial impairment. Indeed, a number of studies have highlighted impairments in both social cognitive functions and empathic skills in OCD, despite several inconsistencies.
When a person with OCD develops BPD, they may show higher rates of certain obsessions (sexual, religious, and obsessional doubts) and compulsions (hoarding, control, arrangement). This may require more frequent hospitalization and complex pharmacological treatment.
Whilst OCD is considered an anxiety disorder, OCPD, as the name suggests, is actually a personality disorder. It's also possible to suffer from both OCD and OCPD simultaneously.
Yet clinicians and researchers have found an overlap between the two. Studies indicate that up to 84 percent of autistic people have some form of anxiety; as much as 17 percent may specifically have OCD. And an even larger proportion of people with OCD may also have undiagnosed autism, according to one 2017 study.
Stimulant treatment for ADHD, for example, may exacerbate OCD symptoms. As stimulants increase attention and focus, they may also lead an individual with comorbid OCD to focus more on the obsessive thought.
Thirty to 50 percent of individuals with ADHD also have a learning disability, difficulty regulating emotions (anxiety, mood disorder), anger, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and/or a tic disorder. It is essential to identify each problem and treat it appropriately.
There are a variety of conditions that have obsessive compulsive disorder qualities that are quite similar to OCD such as PANDAS, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), hoarding disorder, trichotillomania, compulsive skin picking, hypochondria, and olfactory reference syndrome.
If you haven't guessed, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) wins the award for the anxiety category most of us would relegate solely to the violent criminals of this world. Unless of course, you suffer from OCD, and then you'd likely fear that wishing that may result in becoming a violent victimizer yourself.
While both mental health conditions involve repetitive worrying, people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often engage in unwanted and repetitive behavior in response to their worry. People with anxiety, however, tend to overthink their worry, but don't act in specific responsive manners.
Borderline personality disorder is one of the most painful mental illnesses since individuals struggling with this disorder are constantly trying to cope with volatile and overwhelming emotions.
People with OCD describe the condition as feeling like they are not in control of their brains. Their intrusive thoughts involve distressing and horrendous images that they can't shake. They include things like someone breaking into their home, family members dying, or something bad happening to them.
Mild OCD is a subset of OCD in which intrusive thoughts do not consume as much of your energy as with a more severe case of OCD. Their day-to-day life is not impacted to the same degree, even if they have enough symptoms to qualify for an OCD diagnosis.
Specific Personality Traits That Are Prevalent in OCD
Perfectionism: A need to have situations and objects exactly right. Indecisiveness: An inability to make decisions or needing a lot of time to decide. Impulsivity: An inclination to do what feels good at the moment without thinking about future consequences.
It has been established that cluster-C personality traits are common in patients with OCD.
There are many links between OCD and narcissism, as they share many of the same risk factors. Furthermore, research suggests that having OCD increases the likelihood of developing NPD later in life.
Primarily obsessional OCD has been called "one of the most distressing and challenging forms of OCD." People with this form of OCD have "distressing and unwanted thoughts pop into [their] head frequently," and the thoughts "typically center on a fear that you may do something totally uncharacteristic of yourself, ...