Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: What it Means, Why it Happens and How to Treat it

How do you know if you have obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD? Some of the symptoms are immediately obvious to other people, but often not to yourself. For instance, at night do you get up multiple times to make sure you locked all your doors before finally getting to sleep? When you get done reading this article, will you have gotten up five different times to make sure you turned the stove burner off? How many times did you brush your teeth this morning? Will you check to make sure your phone isn’t off the hook more than ten times today? These are all examples of behavior that indicate the presence OCD.

Hey, there’s no question about it; obsessive compulsive disorder is fodder for comedy. People who suffer from OCD have been characters played for laughs not only on SNL or Mad TV skits, but sitcoms and even feature length films. Not that OCD sufferers are alone, of course; even the mentally and physically disabled athletes who take part in the Special Olympics had a comedy made about their problems recently. But OCD patients do differ somewhat because the disorder simply isn’t taken very seriously at all, whereas we all know the disabilities suffered by Special Olympics athletes are no laughing matter.