OCD or obsessive-compulsive disorder is a common mental health disorder that can affect anyone regardless of age or any gender. It is the disorder where an individual is stuck between a series of obsessions and compulsions.
Obsessions are repetitive disturbing thoughts about something. You might get these thoughts while doing anything like cooking, taking a bath, driving, or doing any chore. Sometimes the person gets this urge to check the lock of the doors again and again before sleeping.
Now, the second part of this disorder is compulsions. It is the behaviour that a person shows while acting on the obsessions he is having. These are repetitive behaviours based on repetitive thoughts. For example, the person might end up checking the lock several times before sleeping.
No matter how frustrated the situation gets, there are still some ways to overcome OCD. There are some self-care tips for OCD that can help an individual to get hold of the situation at the moment.
1. Exercise
Exercise is only a great way to maintain good physical health but it also helps in dealing with anxiety and stress that can lead to frustration. It helps you in being mentally and physically active along with having control over your thoughts and actions. Regular exercise can reduce the severity and intensity of obsessive thoughts.
2. No Caffeine
Caffeine has stimulating effects on the nervous system that might increase the chances of anxiety. Therefore, the intake of caffeine should be limited to a person suffering from OCD. You might feel relaxed after taking caffeine but in the long term, when the effect wears off, the chances of anxiety increase.
3. Get Enough Sleep
Whether you have an issue or not, proper sleep is essential for human health. If you have OCD, having the right schedule for sleep and following it every day is a must. You might have suffered from sleepless nights because of OCD, but for self-care OCD control, you must get your sleep scheduled.
4. Avoid Nicotine and Alcohol
You might feel like alcohol intake is reducing your anxiety, but it for a shorter period only. Similarly, it must feel like cigarettes are calming, but it is also a powerful stimulant. Smoking increases the chances of OCD symptoms including anxiety.
5. Meditation
A meditation exercise helps in relaxing your mind and keeping it at the calming bay. If some meditation exercises daily like yoga, your mind will develop this habit of being relaxed. And, you can keep it on when you are having OCD issues. It will help you cooperate with your anxiety and handle those obsessive thoughts when required.
6. Educate Yourself
Denying your situation is in no way a smart choice. There are plenty of people who just deny having any issue at all. This is not how you are going to get better. The best way to overcome OCD is to accept it at first and then educate yourself about it. Learn about how does it feel like, why does it happen, and what you can do about it? You will even find inspirational storeys of several people who have suffered from it and overcame it. All this will help you make the progress.
7. Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about accepting the present moment and your thoughts at that moment. It is a very effective technique that is practised to overcome anxiety and thus it helps a lot in OCD as well. The key is to do everything with your mind present. When you know you have locked the door, you will not feel the urge to do it again and again. When practising it all the time, you will experience those obsessive thoughts but this time, you will just ignore it or alter it to make it go away.
8. Peer Support
Nobody should be alone in the sufferings. If you have a good circle of friends, open up to them and tell them about how you feel. Share your sufferings with and let them help you if they want to. Having a good peer relationship can help a person a lot in having an active and better mental health. This way you will be able to have a circle who takes care of each other including yourself.
9. Be Patient
One of the most effective self-care tips for OCD to overcome OCD is having patience. Patience is the key to any successful recovery. If you are practising meditation, mindfulness, having fixed sleep patterns, or any other technique to feel better, you must not expect things to be better overnight. Every treatment takes time and OCD is a tough one. Losing hope will make you suffer more in the end. So, hold on to the hope of becoming better and don’t let go of the practises you started.
10. Start Therapy
OCD must not be ignored. If you feel like your self-care tips for OCD are not helping or your situation has gotten worse, you must seek professional help. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the best therapy for OCD. There are therapies under CBT such as exposure therapy or response prevention therapy that helps the client face those obsessions bravely and in a healthy way. All those stimulants forwarding towards OCD are dealt with first. It might take a considerable time to overcome OCD at the very start, but it is worth the patience.
The Takeaway
It is very important to remember that no one is perfect, nor can everyone recover at the same pace successfully. People occasionally slip up and face the relapse now and then, but it should be kept in mind that it is normal. If you learn to turn back immediately once you feel that those thoughts are coming back, you will be able to control the relapse whenever it tries to sneak in.
Health is a very important asset of a human’s life; therefore, it shouldn’t be ignored. It is very essential to live a healthy life to achieve a healthy mindset. You can overcome OCD easily if you take these self-care tips for OCD in practise.
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