Imagine you are having a bad day as an OCD-affected individual, and then you realize it can always get worse. In OCD, your life is hanging by a thread when it comes to anxiety as even a single trigger can shoot your OCD levels to the highest peak, which can be dangerous, especially when it is the case that you have a type of OCD that has covert compulsions and obsessions. But the real question is, what causes OCD to get worse? That is what we are here to find out:
What is OCD?
Before we get into how it gets worse, we should talk about what exactly it is. OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder as it is known, features highly intrusive unwanted thoughts and ritualistic compulsions that affected individuals dwell in to get rid of those thoughts. They think that the compulsions are the only way that their compulsions will go away but that is not the case as you will find out later. But what causes OCD to get worse? Well, even though it’s a broad question, let’s talk a little about its defining features, obsessions, and compulsions, which can make the said mental condition sometimes much worse.
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These obsessions are what makes OCD flare up sometimes:
- The fear of hurting a loved one accidentally or deliberately
- The thought of hurting self-harm, whether accidentally or deliberately
- Having a difficult time dealing with uncertainty
- Obsession with excessive alignment and symmetry
- Unwanted thoughts that relate to aggression, or sexual or religious subjects.
To get rid of the obsessions described above, affected individuals practice these actions and these become their compulsions:
- Excessive Checking
- Washing and Cleaning
- Having a Strict Routine
- Keeping Things in Order and In a Symmetrical Fashion
- Asking for Reassurance From Everyone
- Repeating Certain Actions
While these are what causes OCD to get worse, there are also other things such as stress is an answer to what causes severe OCD in some people if not all. Follow on to know more.
What Causes Severe OCD?
Stress and OCD also have a deep connection that goes beyond what causes ocd intrusive thoughts. Stress and hormonal factors have the tendency to intensify OCD symptoms, which become more severe as the OCD affliction passes along. Research also suggests that stressful events can worsen OCD symptoms over time.
Examples of these situations are:
- Child Abuse
- Physical Abuse
- Bereavement
- Loss of a Loved One
- Serious Illness
- Witnessing A Violent Crime
- Sexual Abuse
People are more likely to develop OCD symptoms if they have experienced multiple stressful life events.
Other Reasons Why Your OCD Could Be Getting Worse
You Are Practicing Compulsions Too Much
The vicious cycle of ritualistic compulsions repeats again and again until something is done n about it urgently. When we perform compulsions in response to the distress caused by our obsessions, it only serves to provide temporary relief. When you are performing these compulsions, these are concretely reinforced until they are so strong that it might seem it’s part of their nature. The cycle continues and reinforces the compulsions.
You Have Suffered Enough Trauma
Just like trauma can affect other mental conditions and exacerbate their symptoms. While it is not understood why trauma and OCD can interact, studies have consistently shown PTSD, a mental condition that is characterized by trauma such as the one that comes from a catastrophic accident or warfare, frequently occurs in affected individuals with OCD.
When people with OCD are experiencing trauma, they are bound to find triggers that will make their mental condition worse. Whether it’s past trauma or even distinct new trauma, the symptoms will either way be exacerbated. This is because a lot of times the triggers that are related to trauma can also become obsessions over time and to cope with these traumas through their compulsions that will act as rituals that they will think are helping heal from mental conditions. This is one of the best answers to a question like, “What causes OCD to get worse?”
You’re Dealing With A Lot Of Change
Change of any type, positive or negative, is capable of causing stress, making it another connection for OCD and stress to coexist. Can OCD be triggered by stress caused by changes in your life? There are also different stressors, where like trauma, stress is also capable of exacerbating the symptoms that are related to OCD. While the positive stressors, like going to a university and starting a new degree can be stressful but are good for you and it probably does not exacerbate your symptoms, a negative stressor like job loss is what causes OCD intrusive thoughts or can even make it worse.
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Psychosis
A lot of people generally ask “Can OCD be triggered by psychosis?” While it is not simple to answer, one can ask if psychosis should be included in the list that is about what causes OCD to get worse. Psychosis is basically characterized by delusions and hallucinations, where an affected individual literally breaks from reality and the line between their perception of what is real and what is not, is blurred. While OCD and psychosis do coexist, OCD in the direct sense cannot cause psychosis or otherwise but the presence of the overlapping symptom of both the conditions can cause OCD to exacerbate to the extreme levels. The main connection between both of these is the presence of anxiety and its increasing capacity to ravage our brains can lead both to their extremist levels.
The Physical Effects of OCD
The physical effects of OCD are also present when one is affected with OCD, no matter what kind. You begin to feel symptoms such as your heart racing, you start to feel cold, numb or tingling sensations, dizziness, blurry vision, overheating, increased sweating, dilated pupils, etcetera. These sensations one also begins to feel are what causes OCD to get worse. Because people with OCD become hyper-aware by comparing their sensations as a way to calm themselves down, it can lead to the diagnosis of the subtype called Hyper Awareness OCD or Sensorimotor OCD. You basically start to compare whatever sensory responses you are getting from OCD triggers (obsessions) with the past ones, essentially making a diagnosis extremely difficult due to the absence of compulsions as obsessions are compulsions here.
What To Do When Your OCD Flares Up?
These are the things that you should do if you are asking what causes OCD to get worse.
The First Goal Should Be: Therapy
A therapy like the Psychotherapies involves talking to a mental health professional, who can help you come to terms with the problems or symptoms of mental conditions. One of these called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or as Gen Z would call it, CBT, is a short-term goal-based treatment that can essentially help in wonderful ways. Two examples of a CBT that is suitable for OCD are Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which focuses on mindfulness and how to live in the moment, and Exposure Response Prevention Therapy, where the patient has to revisit situations that might trigger their OCD until finally, those triggers lose their power. And this is what causes OCD to get worse because it makes her happier.
Practice Stress Management
The main component of what causes OCD to get worse is essentially stress. So, why not take it out of the equation? This can be done by initiating stress management via activities such as meditation, relaxing techniques, exercising, etc.
Complement Therapy With Prescribed Medication
First, get a prescription for medication to ensure there is no problem after you are done with therapy. Only a psychiatrist can prescribe you medicines, so refrain from any other type of medication that promises to eradicate your OCD. SSRIs like Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil, and Prozac are the most common prescriptions. These are called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, which target the neurotransmitter Serotonin to be increased (which is usually low in people with OCD) to bring it back to normal levels. This can decrease the amount of symptoms you are suffering from. It will also stop you from reminiscing about what causes OCD to get worse, excessively.
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Let Go Of Perfectionism
A lot of symptoms of OCD relate to and can worsen due to following perfectionism. For example, keeping everything symmetrical and arranged in an orderly fashion. While it may look good, even a slight tilt could act as a trigger.
Conclusion
We are at the end of the line as now you know what causes OCD to get worse, what makes OCD flare up to begin with but also how you can avoid it from worsening. If you need any help, Solid Foundation Psychiatry is here to help in any way possible. Additionally, Solid can also help other mental conditions such as psychosis or schizophrenia.