What happens in OCD? OCD causes the brain to create repetitive worries and fears. These worries, fears and “bad thoughts” can pop up in the brain and might be hard to get rid of.
People who have OCD feel they can’t stop thinking about worries like these:
* someone might get sick, hurt, or die
* things might be germy or dirty
* something isn’t straight, even, or exactly right
* something is lucky or unlucky, bad or good, safe or harmful
* bad thoughts might come true
OCD also can cause people to feel they have to do behaviours to feel safe from worries and fears.
For example, someone with OCD might feel like they have to:
* wash and clean too much
* erase, rewrite, or re-do things
* repeat a word, phrase, or a question more often than necessary
* check and re-check if something is closed or locked
* touch, tap, or step in an unusual way
* put things in just the right order
These behaviours are called rituals. People with OCD may repeat rituals over and over. Doing a ritual temporarily interrupts the bad thoughts.
The brain learns doing a ritual brings relief. Pretty soon, people with OCD do a ritual automatically.
They may feel like they can’t stop. But doing rituals causes OCD to continue.
The name OCD is short for obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Disorder” is a medical way of saying something in the body isn’t working properly.
“Obsessive” is the unwanted thoughts and worries. “Compulsive” is a medical word used to describe the behaviours that people feel they must do to fix the worries.
SOURCE: http://www.teenhealth.org
