Behind the House Always Clean and Neat, Could Be Symptoms of OCD

You are amazed at a friend's house or room that is always neat and clean to every corner. However, over time you realize that he spent hours longer than normal time to clean the house, even angry if someone shifted the position of the goods or not return the items to their place. Be careful, he may experience OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a chronic disorder when a person has an obsession and uncontrolled behavior to do something repeatedly. Obsessive is a term for people who are too worried and think too much. Compulsive is a personal disorder when people are too detail oriented, too fond of regulating, and even tend to be perfectionists. While the word disorder is used to indicate that it causes significant disturbances in daily life.

Clean Up Because of Fear

Regularity is the main core of OCD. One of the common symptoms of OCD is fear of germs and contamination. But people with OCD are different from neat lovers who don't have excessive obsessions. Lovers of neatness and cleanliness clean their surroundings because they feel happy and can be more productive in a clean and neat environment. Whereas people with OCD do it under pressure. When someone who likes cleanliness and neatness, faced with conditions that are messy or disturbed by his activities, he might feel disturbed. But people with OCD can feel excessive anxiety or fear. They really do not want to do or feel this, even feel disturbed, because their activities and daily activities are hampered. OCD makes him obsessed with excessive cleanliness or neatness, then forces him to do an activity over and over again. But what tortures the most is, they are unable to control it. Objects or activities that are targeted by OCD sufferers can vary, not merely cleaning or tidying the house. They are also afraid of losing control of various other things, to the unreasonable little things. This condition is believed to be affected by electrical disorders of the brain, can also be caused by genetic / hereditary factors. Apart from excessive house cleaning, symptoms of OCD can also be:

• Refusing anyone to come to the house just because the house is a bit untidy.
• Spruce up stacks of magazines on the table continuously to look neat and symmetrical, or make sure all labels on a row of food cans are always facing forward so they can be read.
• Clean the shoes excessively before entering the house.
• Angry just because someone else does not return the item to its place after use. This is why it is not uncommon for OCD sufferers to choose to live alone.

How to handle OCD

Some OCD conditions provide symptoms / disorders that can still be tolerated. However, if the disturbance is more severe, to the point of affecting his daily activities and activities, it is recommended to get professional help from a psychiatrist. Handling can be done with a combination of mindset and behavior therapy, and drug consumption:

• Thought and behavior therapy

The therapy performed is commonly known as exposure and response prevention (ERP), or exposure therapy and response prevention. This therapy provides exposure in the form of anxious situations / conditions that trigger compulsive behavior of patients with OCD, and then the patient is asked to fight it. For example, after washing his hands once, the therapist can ask the patient to wait up to 15 minutes before he can wash his hands again. This time span will then be gradually extended until the patient feels only the need to occasionally wash hands if necessary.

• Drug

Your doctor may provide assistance with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are often used as antidepressants. This treatment is considered effective in reducing complaints of OCD sufferers.

• Family support and efforts at home

The support of family and loved ones also plays an important role in fighting OCD. At home, other family members can help patients manage their OCD.

For example when a wife who is experiencing OCD prepares to clean up the house, her husband can say, "Let's watch this TV show first, let's go! Then you can clean up the house later. " This will help sufferers to be able to continue to practice against the obsessions and compulsions they face. Other relaxation techniques such as meditation and yoga are also recommended to help reduce stress and anxiety due to OCD. With good handling, people with OCD can continue to live a quality and productive life like people in general, and can control their obsessions and compulsion in a more positive direction.