How to Help Someone with OCD: 6 Tips for Providing Support

Several tips for supporting a family member or friend with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) represents a constant and intense discomfort if psychological treatment is not received. That is why, even while attending therapy, it is important to have the support of friends and family.

In this article we are going to look at how to help a person with OCDThis impulse control disorder is characterized by a strong need to perform repetitive rituals called compulsions.

What exactly is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

To better understand how to help a person with OCD, you need to know what it is. The Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by the appearance of intrusive thoughts that produce in the subject the feeling of discomfort, that things are out of control and that something bad will happen if a certain order is not reestablished.that things are out of control and that something bad will happen if a certain order is not reestablished. To mitigate this discomfort, those who develop OCD fall into the repetition of a series of stereotypical actions (compulsions) as a "purging" routine: scratching their nose in a certain way, washing their hands, checking what is under a table three times in a row, etc.

People suffering from this disorder usually have an accelerated flow of thought with a catastrophic tendency, i.e. they have the perception that things will go wrong even before they start to do them, which gives them an acute feeling of discomfort.

It is because of this style of thinking that patients with this psychological disorder seek refuge within a bubble of excessive control in certain areas of their lives, by performing compulsions. The compulsions are repetitive and very concrete rituals that the person with OCD feels the need to perform immediately so that the discomfort produced by the obsessions (the intrusive thoughts) dissipates.

In addition, this type of repetitive behaviors have a marked tendency to order, so that these rituals are always performed following a very strict sequence that must not be interrupted. If something comes between people with OCD and their characteristic order in performing these compulsions, discomfort sets in, to such an extent that they find it impossible to go about their daily routine activities smoothly, and they feel that they need to re-arrange everything according to the way they see fit.

How to help someone with OCD?

Now let's look at some ways to help people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

1. Accompany the person to therapy.

Psychological therapy goes a long way toward helping people with OCD channel their need for control.. In fact, all ways to overcome Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder involve seeking professional help in the mental health field. The psychotherapist will be able to adequately assess the particular case of the subject by offering the tools and professional accompaniment required in these cases.

Thus, it is necessary to talk to the person and try to convince him/her to attend psychotherapy, and once the sessions have started, to encourage him/her not to abandon the treatment. Do not feed the idea that going to a psychologist is just an option: it is a necessary condition for leaving behind OCD and the discomfort associated with it.

One way to provide support as a family member or friend is to accompany the patient to the therapeutic sessions with the subject, and make him/her see that he/she is not alone, but that he/she can count on the personal support you offer to overcome complicated situations.

2. Do not try to confront them in order to prevent compulsions.

The main thing to keep in mind when assisting people with this disorder is that should not try to adopt a confrontational attitude in an attempt to modify any of the rituals they perform to maintain their specific order. that they perform to maintain their specific order.

The best thing to do will always be to adopt an attitude of understanding towards their behavior, understanding that more than a mania it is a necessity for them. In any case, it is these patients who should be the engine of their own change based on the guidelines and training given in therapy.

3. Do not get involved in rituals

It is also not a good idea to actively participate in the rituals that the person has, understanding that this situation instead of being positive for him/her would end up encouraging the obsessive behavior, causing it to start again. Many family members and friends try to provide support by imitating the subject's behaviors, which is not appropriate.

Instead we must show the person that nothing happens when the ritual is not fulfilled, but we will do this by example.but we will do this by example. Without being invasive, we will show the person that the world is not a dangerous place and that it is possible to live in it without the need for an exacerbated order.

4. Positively reinforce their progress

A characteristic trait of people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is that are aware that they have a problem but are unable to abandon their obsessive routines unless they receive helpThey depend on that sense of control for comfort.

What we will do to diminish these behaviors will be to give the person signs of affection and surprise prizes every time the person shows small advances to stop being so methodical; in this way the subject will feel gratified and will want to continue improving.

5. Establish clear goals

For the previous advice, to implement positive behavioral reinforcers, to work effectively, it is necessary to help the subject to set achievable goals, so that it is possible to evaluate and determine the improvement that has taken place in that time.

It is useless to set goals that are almost impossible to achieve, it only encourages frustration and the desire to abandon treatment (or to live in a fiction in which the person believes he/she is making progress without this being true).

6. Include the immediate family

If possible, we should involve the subject's immediate family. In this way, the home environment will improveIn this way, the atmosphere in the home will improve, since the subject's immediate family members will be able to better understand why their relative sometimes acts so obsessively, and instead of arguing, they will begin to provide support.

Family therapy is very helpful in these cases; el terapeuta no solamente evalúa y ayuda a quien presenta TOC, sino que también les da a los familiares las mejores alternativas para afrontar positivamente la situación.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Barlow, D.H. & Durand, V.M. (2006). Essentials of Abnormal Psychology. California: Thomson Wadsworth.
• Kodysz, S. (s.f.). Trastorno Obsesivo-Compulsivo (TOC). Breve Revisión Bibliográfica. Hojas Clínicas de Salud Mental.
• Stern, E.R.; Taylor, S.F. (2014). Cognitive neuroscience of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 37 (3): 337 - 352.
• Storch; et al. (2008). "Obsessive-compulsive disorder in youth with and without a chronic tic disorder". Depression and Anxiety. 25 (9): 761–767.