Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is considered a scare tactic ... a strategy intended to frighten a person arousing fear and alarm. OCD sends a series of gruesome images as fear factors to the person ... compelling him to act right away that something has to be done pronto. OCD shares information only to the person ... things that are important and relevant to him.
Going to the example of broken glass in my post yesterday, if the situation is not of value to the person, or it is not relevant to him ... the network of fear-mongering pathways in his mind does not send any warning signals ... hence no intrusive thoughts were present.
But if the intrusive thought comes because the person has experienced stepping on broken glass before ... all alarms were lit to inform the person to pick up the shard or remove the fragmented glass ora mismo. The person's immediate response is to go back and check for broken fragments lest if somebody accidentally stepped on it "IT WILL BE HIS FAULT."
In the same way ....if you have experience leaving the front door open overnight while you are on a night shift, that scares the s_it out of you. Every time you leave the house the OBSESSED thought (leaving the gate open) popped from nowhere and that COMPELLED the person to do some rituals like checking and rechecking if she has bolted the gate and the lock was tightly closed to prevent "strangers in the night" from sneaking into her house.
One of my friends who has OCD asked me why she has to entertain such “horrible thoughts”. What I told her was the psycho-dynamics of an obsession (the repetitive thoughts is the B-side of her core value. If OCD teases you with vivid images and thoughts about God's displeasure about your recent clash with the police, then religion must be close to your heart before all others. If OCD compels you to do rituals even if it makes you look silly ... (something for the safety of your family and preventing them from getting hurt, then your family is clearly one of your top priorities.
Look at the chart above. In order for Obsessive Compulsive behavior to show its ugly face ... the first requirement is the presence of an intrusive thought (obsessed thought) that causes a mammoth anxiety to the person. Doing rituals like handwashing is the person's attempt to give relief to the overwhelming anxiety care of her obsession.
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