Sunny Side Up- The Funny Side Of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

Akashi has this funny habit of washing her face with a face wash, even after taking her bath. Not that she does not wash her face while taking bath, but it is just that she is so used to washing her face with a face wash, even after a bath and she is so obsessed with it. It is a ritual that she has been following ever since the age of 15 and now she is 32! Probably she is trying to wear out the melanin from her face!

Rupesh has this habit of eating everything in pairs. It HAS to be two french-fries, two gems or two biscuits. He just cannot eat one or three. It always has to be two.

For Protima, the newspaper always has to be neatly arranged and stacked under the table. There should be no fold and no dog ears. If her husband was going to leave it on the chair or the sofa  even for  a few seconds, she would come running like Milkha Singh and place the newspapers under the table not bothering to give a thought whether her husband has finished  the reading or not.

Payal is so obsessed with brushing her teeth. She brushes her teeth once when she gets up in the morning, after eating her breakfast, again in the evening and once again at night before going to bed. She has to brush her teeth immediately after eating anything. If her teeth were to have eyes, they would have probably cried.

 Niharika treats her house like a museum. For her everything has to be kept at the right place.   The centre table, the modahs, the cushions on the sofa should not be placed an inch this side or that side. Even before the guests can leave, she will arrange the table and the cushions back in position. Her family used to feel embarrassed because of the funny behavior of hers.

Sachin has the habit of replaying his conversation in his mind over and over again. He will pace around the house or the office or sit inside his car and replay the conversation in his mind for around ten to twenty minutes.

Jignesh is so obsessed with washing his hands. He has to wash his hands before a meal and after a meal, which is quite common. However, he will wash his hands after reading the newspaper, working on the laptop/computer, after touching the table, after reading a book or after touching the water bottle. He is paranoid that he will catch some infection if he was not going to rigorously wash his hands after all these activities. Pity his hands; they would have become small by now.

Lavanya is obsessed with combing her hair. She will diligently comb it when she gets up in the morning, before taking her bath, when she gets ready to go out, after she comes back and before going to bed at night! Surprisingly she is still left with some hair to comb.

Jokes apart, I am sure that all the above-mentioned instances will definitely ring a bell in our head. Almost all of us are obsessed with doing something repeatedly many times a day. It is almost like a ritual, which we never forget to practice.

Some acts of ours may seem hilarious to some people and may cause great irritation to others.

Now what is this? It is called in medical terms as ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a disorder of our mind where we are obsessed with a particular thought or action and feel compelled to perform it like a ritual. These thoughts and actions are uncontrollable, unwanted and irrational. Although we are aware that these thoughts are irrational, we are compelled to perform them. The brain is stuck with particular thought and is unable to control it and come out of it.

There are many who would check more than twice to ensure that the stove has been turned off because they are worried that the house may catch fire.

Some people have the habit of pulling the lock to check whether it has been locked tight. They keep tugging at the lock. They are paranoid that their house may get burgled.

These are some of the lighter side of OCD. However, there are some extreme cases as well where the person with OCD is constantly worried about the health of the family members lest they fall sick or that somebody in the family might meet with an accident while travelling to some destination.

I am not going to get into the serious side of OCD because the title in this article itself suggests that it is about the funny side of OCD. For further awareness and medical help, please log in to the following website www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd/‎

Now let me tell you how to overcome OCD naturally.

1.      First, understand the fact that you are suffering from OCD. Denying it will actually worsen the problem and cure will become more a complex process. Remember, OCD is just a disorder and NOT a mental illness.

2.      Try to postpone the activity and do not follow it like a ritual. If the newspaper is left on the sofa or on the table just let it be. Try to do some other activity, which will help you to deviate your OCD thoughts.

3.      Pursue a hobby or an interest so that the mind is preoccupied with some activity and will have less time to think about the compelling OCD thoughts.

Take the extra effort and go that extra mile to overcome the problem because the remedy ultimately is in your own hands.

Once I wake up early,
Twice I fold the sheets,
Three times I look in the mirror,
Then my flat iron heats.

Let the water run four times,
And five times comb my hair,
Six turns of the toothpaste tube,
Then find something to wear.

Spin around the seventh time,
Eight times do a chore.
Nine times, flicker all the lights,
Tenth I am out the door.

Perfection at its worst,
Not easy as 1, 2, 3.
Sometimes I feel I am cursed,
With this thing called OCD.

Courtesy: Author Unknown

As an ending note I must say that I have read and re-read this article almost twenty times and am compelled to do read it more. Now, isn’t that weird. Damn this OCD!