Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a complicated mental health condition. No two people will have an equal experience. As such, you need to communicate your experience to others.

However, this is also complicated. You may find it difficult to move past the stigmas concerning OCD. You may be labeled as nothing more than a neat freak.

Still, as you already know, there’s so much more to OCD than that and our culture needs to be educated. The more others understand, the better chance you have at building a support system.

A support system is key to handling mental health. It will provide you with the necessary tools to get through tough times. For this reason, we invite you to read along as we discuss how to have healthy conversations about OCD.

What Type of OCD Do You Struggle With?

Before you begin to try to explain OCD to others, you need to know what type of OCD you struggle with. Though there’s no official classification in the medical field, you’re likely to experience one of the following: ¹

1.) Cleaning and Contamination

The best-known sub-type of OCD is in those who feel the need to wash away any dirty links they can conceive. Whether it’s their hands or a food-stained surface, people with this sub-type of OCD will compulsively clean anything and everything.

There are two big difficulties with this sub-type. The first is that you hold anxiety for germs that are difficult to rid your mind of. This anxiety is prone to give you behaviors that aren’t common in others. For example, you may avoid touching public amenities at all costs. Secondly, such behaviors are very time-consuming.

2.) Symmetry and Ordering

Do you find yourself feeling anxious when material objects aren’t in an orderly fashion? This sub-type of OCD is often categorized by people who need everything to be arranged and fidgeted to be in perfect symmetry. The biggest difficulty with this sub-type is there is no temporary relief. You’ll often find that nothing’s perfect.

3.) Forbidden, Harmful, or Taboo Impulses

This sub-type of OCD is known to cause intrusive thoughts. These thoughts can appear in a variety of ways but are often things that are socially forbidden, harmful, or taboo. The biggest difficulty with intrusive thoughts is that they lead to compulsive behaviors. For example, if you struggle with sexual obsession, you’re more vulnerable to practicing risky sexual behavior.

4.) Hoarding

This sub-type of OCD is often characterized by people who hold onto objects they are no longer in need of. You likely overvalue what you have. For example, you may find an old laptop that’s no longer usable, but attach it to memories of a previous time. Through these memories, this useless laptop suddenly has value and must be kept. ²

While nostalgia is often the biggest inhibitor of hoarders, you may also feel you’ll never know if you need an object in the future. The fear of not knowing what you’ll need makes you feel like these objects protect you.

Understand Your Story

With the knowledge of which sub-type of OCD you struggle with, it will be easier for you to understand what you struggle with. However, it’s just as important to ask yourself how much of your story you comprehend.

If you can’t explain your OCD to yourself, how are you going to explain it to others? It helps to use examples of how OCD affects you. For example, if you struggle with hoarding, you may be able to recall moments when you’ve held onto objects you don’t need. Or, if you have the symmetry and ordering sub-type, your house may already be an example.

The biggest difficulty with these examples is you may feel shame for them. Shame and guilt are common among people with OCD – especially those aware of their struggles. These negative emotions may prevent us from sharing information with others.

The Anxiety of Speaking Out

Anxiety triggers compulsions and compulsions fuel obsessions. However, OCD anxiety can manifest itself in other ways as well.

Many times, anxiety prevents us from comprehending our thoughts and then sharing them with others. Sometimes, we may even panic when we try to speak out. ³

For this reason, anxiety only hinders our ability to talk to others about our OCD. It gets us wrapped up in the “what ifs” and prevents us from progressing. More so, it makes us act out compulsively to feel moments of temporary relief.

So, is there any way around this? It can help you to be open about your anxiety. Of course, this is easier said than done. However, you may notice relief when you come out and admit that anxiety has been a burden to you and has hindered your ability to communicate.

Not to mention, it’s another great way for others to understand OCD. If you can explain the cycle of how anxiety fuels compulsions, it can benefit those who are trying to comprehend your condition.

Final Word

Communication is key to overcoming mental illness. And it can come in many forms, from in-person conversations to phone calls. You may also find it beneficial to write out how you feel or make a video about your OCD and share this with others.

References

¹ Leckman JF, Bloch MH, King RA. Symptom dimensions and subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a developmental perspective. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2009;11(1):21-33. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2009.11.1/jfleckman. PMID: 19432385; PMCID: PMC3181902.

² Frost RO, Steketee G, Tolin DF. Comorbidity in hoarding disorder. Depress Anxiety. 2011 Oct 3;28(10):876-84. doi: 10.1002/da.20861. Epub 2011 Jul 18. PMID: 21770000; PMCID: PMC3188689.

³ Martin EI, Ressler KJ, Binder E, Nemeroff CB. The neurobiology of anxiety disorders: brain imaging, genetics, and psychoneuroendocrinology. Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2009 Sep;32(3):549-75. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2009.05.004. PMID: 19716990; PMCID: PMC3684250.