A Mind That Won't Quit?

As an individual who has lived with anxiety I can relate to people who struggle with repeated doubts - Did I leave my door unlocked? - a need to have things in a particular order - Isn't it a law that the toilet paper is supposed to unroll from the top and not the bottom? - or even unwanted imagry - I hate billboards and checkout line tabloids. Enough said.  We all struggle with these things from time to time.  Maybe you don't struggle with them to the point of needing professional help.  But there are few things as rewarding in my work with people as helping an individual cope and overcome these obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

How common is this problem.  Clinically speaking, about 1 in 40 people in the US have a diagnosis of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  The interesting thing is that it often goes undiagnosed for a long time.  The average person may see 3 or 4 professionals and go undiagnosed for as long as 7 years.  That's about 2-3% of our population.

So what's the difference between a person who is a perfectionist and someone who has an actual diagnosis of OCD?  True obsessions in the clinical sense are unwanted thoughts or images that just torment the individual.  It's not being obsessed with work or obsessed with football.  Instead it is a thought or image that just "comes out of nowhere to torment you.  Usually it causes enormous anxiety.  The second component of this disorder is compulsive behavior.  These are things one might do in response to their obsessive thoughts.  Some people may hate the thought of coming in contact with germs or dirt.  An obsessive-compulsive person is driven to avoid contact with these things and may compulsively wash their hands or avoid normal encounters with people to prevent "contamination".

With Christians I see people who obsess with whether or not they are actually saved or whether they may have committed the unpardonable sin.  For Christians there seems to be a lot of misinformation including attributing this problem to the wrong cause.

There is certainly no doubt among professionals that this is a biological issue.  Research shows that it is a problem that is about 60% genetic.  There's lots of research in this area among Christian and secular psychologists to back this claim.  Abnormalities in the basal ganglia part of the brain and seratonin imbalance are clinically proven causes of this disorder.  Stress exacerbates this problem but at the core is a neurological problem that needs some medical attention.

The good news is that there is help for this problem and most people (90% or better) respond to treatment with medications like SSRI's and cognitive behavioral therapy.  If this is a struggle you are experiencing give me a call or check with a licensed Chrisitian counelor in your area.