OCD is one of the most common disorders in Singapore. Yes, disorders, not anxiety disorders.

According to the Straits Times, ‘The first and only Singapore Mental Health Study released in 2011 found that Singapore was the OCD capital of the world, with higher rates of the illness compared with the United States or Europe.’

Even then, OCD is one of the most misunderstood disorders in the world. So what exactly is OCD?

We’ve mentioned in this post some symptoms of OCD and anxiety disorders in general, but here we’ll be going into more depth.

OCD is short for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder essentially means that the people with it often repeat the same actions over and over again (these actions are often known as “routines”). They do it involuntarily (“compulsions”), and can’t stop thinking about doing these routines (“obsessions”)

These compulsions are so severe for some, if not most, sufferers that they suffer physical anxiety if they do not perform these compulsions. However, performing these actions to alleviate the anxiety may bring on more anxiety as the sufferer is aware of their ritualistic behaviour. Thus, those with OCD end up in stuck in vicious cycles that damage them physically the more they perform their actions.

Often, people with OCD take normal behaviours, such as washing your hands or checking if the lights are switched off, and perform so constantly it becomes unhealthy or even dangerous. For people with OCD, they may wash their hands so often their fingers start to bleed. Even then, the desire to perform these compulsions (like washing their hands) can be so powerful that they can also occupy someone’s mind completely, becoming an obsession that can block out all thoughts of what they are doing, seeing or hearing at that time.

Treatment often includes psychotherapy (which may include exposing you gradually to triggers like dirt through exposure therapy), and certain kinds of medications (such as antidepressants. For more information, read about it here.)

Most importantly, it definitely means a lot for people with OCD to receive support and care from their loved ones. If you yourself don’t have OCD but know someone who does, try your very best to be patient with them, and offer to help with some simple tasks like opening the door for them. Encourage them when they make small improvements as this may motivate them to keep going. Here’s an article that may help you find out more ways to help out.

Hopefully you learned more about OCD as an individual anxiety disorder. Click on to find out about some facts and numbers about just how many people around the world and here in Singapore have anxiety disorders!