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b"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is an example of a crossover with normal everyday traits albeit with a crucial difference. The first you feel compelled to do even though you don't want to, the second defines your sense of perfectionism professionalism and pride in what you do. You think it is reasonable and justified. Anxiety increases the likelihood of being held hostage to an obsession. For instance how many people suddenly become more religious under stress? OCD has its roots in the most ancient times of the evolution of species. All living organisms with self awareness need arousal in order to be motivated to acquire basic needs of survival and be alert in order to escape predators. OCD can have two components which are intrusive unpleasant thoughts (surrogate predators) and Compulsive actions such as checking cleaning washing (surrogate survival needs). OCD so simply hijaks our primitive survival circuits that it can often last decades. Clearly the fear associated with OCD is irrational and indeed research shows you are almost guaranteed never to act on unpleasant obsessional thoughts. Irrational anxiety is also seen in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Phobias. The gold standard of treatment is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (which can sometimes work alone) in combination with a medication to raise serotonin (serotonin re uptake inhibitors-SSRI).
There are rapid reprocessing techniques such as EMDR (Shapiro) and Theo's own distilled version which work much faster and very effectively. There is plenty of help for sufferrers. There is helpful material online although your GP is the best gateway to licenced professionals who will be able to help you."