Study finds OCD is your own fault ;)

Study Finds Most People Have Obsessive Behaviors or Thoughts | Psych Central News

Everyone has obsessions and compulsions. It's just what we decide to do with these thoughts that differ.

Um... maybe it's not meant like that, but it feels like the whole pop-culture trend of "self help". That you choose your reactions.

I remember my own onset of OCD. The difference for me personally was not how I handled thoughts. I mean, I and most people had a life prior to OCD. Would our issue be a sudden loss of coping with normal obsessions? I think maybe the study fails to take in count that a loss of coping must suddenly happen if their theory is right. Because OCD usually doesn't start slowly growing as you exit the womb.

How normal people handle obsessions is touted as the cure. Just push the thoughts aside with a shrug.

Yet again.... when I got OCD I suddenly had a large number of obsessive thoughts. Drop that on anyone and I'll tell you it is quite hard just shrugging off. Also, have they even tried to measure the intensity of the emotion behind it? It's not just a thought flying by with no emotion attached to it. Not for me at least. It was always accompanied with a very strong emotion that I fail to see how I chose.

OCD is a real disorder and not just some bad habit. I mean at onset I had no prior history of worrying about things, the way the study suggests. It basically says you are already a worrier when the illness starts. Or it cannot get you. It really does not fit me. I was quite mentally healthy and I didn't dwell on things, the dwelling and obsessing came WITH the disorder.

Maybe I'm different and everyone else matches what the study found? I have no idea.

You bring up a good point with "OCD is a real disorder and not just some bad habit". If a person's brain is truly exaggerating some common function, it's not like you have an immediate social support framework that is accepting and helps you deal with it, for starters.

I think the problem with this "you can choose your reactions" concept is that it is easy to apply it or receive it as a negative judgment. People have the reactions they do because they don't KNOW there is a way to choose in the first place.

Even though some people find altering their thought patterns helps as much or more than medications, it isn't ludicrously easy to simply drop a way of thinking or a specific behavior. The mind just doesn't work that way. It is doable, but it feels hard. It can feel as awkward as learning to switch your dominant hand, and that is after all as much habit as preference! Imagine trying to change your handedness ... for a while you wouldn't be able to write properly or even feed yourself well.

Habits (including thoughts, behaviors, emotional reactions) are challenging to break, because the "choice" is one you already made a very long time ago, when you simply did not know any other way of dealing with things. Very few people have trained psychologists for parents or teachers, let alone early friends! Even if they did, what if their technique doesn't quite mesh with your personality?

Well, I don't think this is any different from depression. Everyone gets depressed now-&-again. But there's a BIG difference between a few hours, or a day or two, of feeling down & major depression. Yes everyone obsesses about one thing or another from time-to-time. But here again, there's a BIG difference between that & OCD.

I have sometimes compared the difference between a minor passing depression, & major depression, as being like the difference between the common cold & pneumonia. Colds come-&-go & everyone gets one occasionally. And once in a while, a cold can turn into pneumonia. And pneumonia can kill you. But that doesn't mean that a cold & pneumonia are the same thing!

I remember, one time, reading a "one-liner" that went: "Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it." It's easy for some researcher who doesn't have to deal with it to do some study & pronounce that everyone has obsessive thoughts & it's just a matter of what one does with them.

What concerns me about this sort of thing is that I can just see insurance companies jumping onto this bandwagon because it's allot cheaper for them to send someone to a class to learn how to shrug off obsessive thoughts than it is to provide one-to-one therapy. I'm fond of the concept of "mindfulness". But I see the same thing with that. A beautiful concept has been co-opted as a cheap fix for deep psychological problems... (don't get me started!)

just on the other hand,,, OCD's are genetically predisposed and a brain malfunction. therapy doesn't usually help them, unless it's a chemical therapy. one might learn some skills to hide or handle them, but they do not respond to "will power" in the usual way~

i never had OCD's before my brain damage, and one pill, Welbutrin, did stop them for a few days.... but Acupuncture was the best treatment for them. i wish traditional medical insurance would open their minds and pay for real treatments that work...

... this study is rubbish. (a vibe I am sensing you all agree with)

As a biologist who has done studies, the pool was too small. The hypothesis was far too open.

Of COURSE the population all experiences intrusive thoughts. That is common knowledge among those with OCD. Many people without the disorder part of OCD speak of intrusive thinking. This is a natural battle within the human brain.

This would be like asking 50 able-NT people; "Do you sometimes feel scared being alone?" of course, the overwhelming answer would be "yes". This does not at all equate passing natural anxiety with an anxiety disorder.

That being said, this study also buys into the stigmatization of mental illness by trivializing it. Quote, “People with OCD and related problems are very much like everyone else.”. This is a tactic used by able people (meaning they are neurotypical, non-disabled). It is a way to trivialize a sometimes life consuming illness to lessen the severity of a mental illness. I have seen OCD literally (yes, literally) take a life. There is no comparison here between a random intrusive thought and a disorder.

That is why there is a difference between an Obsession Compulsion and Obsessive Compulsive DISORDER. Discorded thinking is not a normal occurrence. When thoughts such as "Did I lock the door?" turn into you checking your doors, 12 times, in a certain rotation at 9pm before bed and starting over if you messed up is disordered. Not just simply "thinking".

A person with OCD has different regions of the mind being active in different regions. As you all know.



Now, a person with passing obsessive thoughts will have the same regions "light up" (the frontal lobe). A major part of OCD is frontal lobe dysfunction. Which Gus pointed out, is usually handed down through genetics. Having dysfunction in the frontal lobe leads to attention difficulties, cognitive difficulties, and aids in spontaneous behavior (acting on compulsions).

The reason us people with OCD cannot process a compulsive thought like abled NT people is because we have a disorder, and from that disorder, we act. We don't have the choice to ignore an urge. Usually, we are brought into a panic thanks to Fight or Flight.

Assuming that a human with a DISORDER can just simply figure out how to apply these dysfunctional thoughts is an ableist, lame assumption.

TL;DR; if you're going to do a study, make sure your pool is bigger than 777 of mostly university students that aren't on disability/SSI/facing mental health treatment.

I haven't read the article, but from what you described, it sounds like an endorsement by the self-help, positive thinking community, which believes that brainwashing ourselves with positive thoughts will cure everything. Well, it doesn't work that way, despite what they think their research has proven. Unfortunately, many of today's cognitive behavioral therapists believe in the same concept.

The reality is that many people suffer with deep emotional wounds and other issues that cannot be resolved by changing one's thought patterns. The original damage or issues were not thought into existence and thus cannot be thought out of existence. This is a very simple truth that is too frequently not understood by today's psychology professionals and others.

^^
I agree 100%, DeepSoul. It's disturbing, isn't it? The whole reason people, especially psychologists and the like buy into this form of "self help", is because it requires minimum to no work on their part, but actively shames a mentally ill person into believing a physical illness of the brain is their fault and that maybe we just need to see more rainbows and unicorns. All we have to do is try really, really hard!

insert endless eye rolls here.

As you said, changing a thought pattern may do little to nothing when someone has a brain that is disordered. Not enough hormones, too many hormones, frontal lobe dysfunction, temporal lobe dysfunction, traumatic events... the list goes on. Telling us, the mentally ill, that we are "really like everyone else!" is such a scum bag tactic made to guilt us into feeling like it's our own faults. Which is the farthest thing from the truth.

I know I seem really passionate about this and many may see it as an "overreaction", but this is something I've been dealing with for years now with friends, family, therapists, etc. And it's so harmful.

This study was done so poorly no proper scientist or doctor would see it as referential or even relevant.

If you ask fish if they swim the overwhelming answer would be "yes"

If you ask a human brain if they sometimes have thoughts that make them uncomfortable the overwhelming answer is going to be "yes".

That doesn't mean OCD is within a humans control. Or that a person without OCD can at ALL understand how daunting, draining and harmful this disease is.

It is very disturbing! I'm very passionate about this issue as well. I'm not surprised by the study, and didn't even bother reading it, because I've known about this attitude in the psychotherapy industry for a long time. So, I'm not surprised that an article like that was written.

And I think you are right that many therapists use the "change your thinking" concept as an excuse to not make more of an effort to probe deeper into a client's suffering. Either that, or they just don't know any better, which is an even scarier thought.

I have nothing against social workers, and know that they provide an important role in certain environments and situations. However, in my opinion, too many of them are now taking on the role of psychologist, even though they clearly do not have enough education about the human psyche to diagnose or treat anyone for severe emotional or mental distress. They have a tendency to be very enthusiastic about "positive thinking" techniques and CBT, which maybe helps for certain issues, but certainly is not a one size fits all solution for everything. I'm thinking that this must be a problem in the education system where they are receive their training. This applies to psychologists too.

I went to several therapists in the past, and the only help they would offer me is CBT type approaches. I've probably spent the last 3 years searching for a psychologist who will apply any kind of depth therapy on me, such as psychoanalysis. I cannot find one though. They either are not covered under insurance or I just cannot find one who is available. Short-term CBT is almost always covered by insurance, but that is not true for therapies such as psychoanalysis or other alternatives that spend extensive amounts of time trying to uncover the actual source behind a client's distress (rather than preaching positive thinking to fix emotional damage or physical dysfunctions of the brain). Very frustrating!

I believe that the psychology field has taken a big step backwards. I believe that I could receive better therapy if I was living in 1950! Back then, you went to either a psychologist or psychiatrist for extensive psychological work, and not to a social worker, counselor or coach.

I don't have OCD myself, but I peeked in because of the title.. prepared to call rubbish, as well. As it seems all of you did. Anyway. Everything I was going to say has already been said. Just wanted to echo this. Because this is 100% truth.

Of course everyone has some obsessive thoughts sometimes. People may experience mania, too (coffee, anyone?) other than people with bipolar. Likewise, sometimes everyone might feel a bit paranoid. What makes a disorder a disorder isn't necessarily the behavior itself, but rather, whether the behavior becomes constant and/or interferes with the person's life.

A simple Abnormal Psych class could teach one that, really.

I can't understand why people who write articles like that seem to disregard OCD as an 'issue' or something 'everybody has', umm no it's a serious and distressing mental illness. To read articles like that that say ocd is your own fault makes me so hurt.

I would propose OCD and depression are different.
I can cope the crap out of my depression MOST of the time, if I work at it. If I am honest with myself? I can drive myself through it.

OCD?
No. There is a point of no return. I can't motivate myself out of pure o. I can't happy myself out of it, go do something else, relax, make a cake, whatever.

It just doesn't work. And most of the coping techniques I have come up with actually REINFORCE the pure obsessive mental obsessions and compulsions [there are compulsions, even though the name would like to suggest otherwise].

half the time it's like you kind of just have to ride through hell.
For me.

And I am the damn QUEEN of "make it work" when it comes to "mental suckitude".

Nothing can break through the Pure O though. It is really frustrating, actually, though, when i try to talk about it, and I am basically screaming on the inside because it is so awful, and people suggest I relax or go read a book. I get that not everyone is learned in this area, but it is totally invalidating when I say "this is breaking me" and someone does the opposite of acknowledge that. There is no fixing that situation.

Except I still sit here and cry and feel so completely alone.

Like I'm on pi's raft with the damn tiger in the middle of the ocean. FOR SERIOUS.

I will come back when less crazy and talk about how everyone has obsessive thoughts though- I get where the article is coming from but maybe could have presented it better. Like... maybe a little more accuracy in discussing the theory.

But that's crazy talk.

Well I am one that agrees with the study to a degree. Being someone coping quite well with medically diagnosed OCD now after previous hospital admissions, I think that says something.

My ocd has dramatically decreased in severity due to cognitive restructuring like dismissing the thought. I have vivid images, urges and thoughts to frequently hurt or kill myself, sexually assult someone else or intentionally damage my career or personal life. I felt the need to check many things, have issues with germs and had strange habits and rituals.

Every single time I have a thought like that now I dismiss it as another silly thought that does not mean anything. Acknowledging that it was just an OCD thought with no more meaning than any other random thought really helped me. It was hard at first as I still had guilt and anxiety feelings associated with it but as time goes on it is getting easier.

It is important not to punish yourself for the thought, to see it and let it pass you by with no importance associated with it. Yep, it can be hard to do but its better to give it a go consistently then let the thoughts completely disable me. My anxiety is also much better after coming to this realisation. I still do have the thoughts but they are no longer constant as I give no meaning to them. Our brains fire out over 50,000 thoughts a day, there is no reason why one "silly" thought should have more importance than another.

Not sure if many of you are well enough to see it this way yet - but you may agree when you find stability.

Basically, their hidden agenda now is to put a band aid on it and you should be alright in a day or two.

It's our own fault?
But when these researchers brakes fail, do they also blame their feet instead of getting the broken part fixed? Same thing!

We do not choose our reactions/our feelings, we choose our responses, what we "do". Thoughts and feelings happen :-) Our task is to use our thoughts and feelings and stimuli we receive from outside to decide on our actions forward. If one has a problem or situation, illness, etc., whatever you want to call it, you get to decide if it is "okay" with you or not and, if not, what to do about it.

Many people think they are supposed to "control" their thoughts and feelings but that is impossible. My little head is going to think what it thinks and feel what it feels! However, if I think :-) it doesn't do something as well as I like, I'm going to work to change that. At the moment, it is 4:40 a.m. and I'm up in the middle of the night and I would rather be getting a good night's sleep? I have a cold at the moment so I know I just have to wait a few days and I will feel better but it is not the first night I've been up when I'd rather be sleeping. So, I'm working on my sleep habits, my diet, reviewing my meds/general health, etc. to see how I can help myself.

I do not "blame" myself for being up in the middle of the night. No point -- there's a good saying I like, "Fix the problem, not the blame". But I realize it is "my" problem and only I can work on it, it is not something from something or someone else that has come into my life and captured me :-) Sometimes I am awake in the night worrying about stuff. If you like, that is my own fault. Only I can do anything about what makes me anxious to help myself feel more secure. Just worrying doesn't do anything useful and I don't like how it feels.

As a child, I use to get out of the bath and be really cold so I would squat down and huddle against the toilet, the towel around my back? Still cold :-) but I was more concerned with how much colder it would be if I got up! So, I was "stuck". But that was all "me"; yes, it is colder when you get up but one does not "die" from the cold and it is the only way to get dry/in warm pajamas and bed, the sooner the better. OCD is an anxiety problem and one does not die from facing one's anxieties and doing something about them rather than just doing the minimum/huddling against the toilet, to feel slightly better than doing nothing/exposing one's self to the cold, would.

The problem I am having with this comparison is that so often the things we do to relieve our anxiety, in the context of OCD actually trap us and make it worse.

In my personal experience can be so severe it is debilitating because if I do the things that relieve the anxiety it reinforces the cycle; if I do not engage in these things the anxiety itself can be debilitating. Therapy and meds are not cure-alls. There are still a lot of break through symptoms and episodes.

Keep in mind this is based on a few years ago, but what I have read previously re: "everyone has intrusive thoughts" is this:
upwards of 90% of the general population experiences intrusive thoughts. However, in a neurocognitive context, how certain individuals recognize, process and assign importance to these thoughts is different.

The individuals who assign greater importance [a good deal of this mechanism is initiated by the BRAIN, not the MIND, so the theory goes] are identified as experiencing OCD.

With that said, we can still do things with the effects of this that we experience. CBT does work on a level and for some who experience mild to moderate OCD. Some individuals need both CBT and medication however to fully address what is going on.

In regards to therapies other than CBT- they may be helpful on a case by case basis to address other associated issues, but if OCD specifically is being addressed, thus far [as far as talk therapy goes] CBT has been shown to be most successful in treating OCD specifically.

I don't much agree with the article that prompted this thread for many reasons, one of them being that the summary seems a bit removed from the research it is referring to [though maybe I have a gross misunderstanding of the article].