O.C.D. QUIZ: If you suspect that you may suffer from this disorder, go to www.adaa.org/Public/selftest_OCD.htm and do the quiz, which is not definitive, and should be regarded as an indicator only. Consider printing the result, if you score highly, and taking it along to your doctor, when you seek a referral, and to the therapist. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Types of OCD – Washers & Cleaners Sufferers of this type of OCD have an obsession with contamination. Their irrational fear of being contaminated by germs leads them to compulsively avoid or remove all possible contaminants.
Their obsessions have to do with germs, viruses, and dirt that put them in danger of getting some disease. As such, they're in constant fear of becoming infected and infecting others.While washers may repeatedly wash their hands and/or shower, cleaners wash and rewash their clothes and repeatedly clean their houses several times each day. They repeatedly clean surfaces and objects in their home, never feeling safe or clean enough from contaminants.
Types of OCD – Checkers These OCD sufferers are compelled to repeatedly check locks and switches around the house or office. They live in constant fear that door or window locks or switches on appliances haven't been closed or turned off.
The irrational fear that their failure to lock or switch something off will cause harm to themselves and others leads them to constantly check and recheck the objects of their obsession.
Checkers often picture terrifying catastrophes taking place in which they're to blame. This leads them to come up with elaborate rituals, which are time-consuming and hinder them from completing daily tasks.
Types of OCD – Orderers These OCD sufferers are obsessed with fixing things a certain "correct" way. Before even beginning a daily task, they must organize things to "perfect" order. They simply can't focus or begin unless they give in to the impulse to fix things the "right" way.
If someone else tries to touch, move, rearrange, or disarrange the things they fixed, orderers feel extreme distress.
Types of OCD – Hoarders The objects that hoarders collect are mostly useless items that most people would consider as garbage. Or they can hoard relatively useful items, like matchbooks and sugar packets, but to the point where they can never hope to use all of it in their lifetime. Hoarding often results in chaotic living conditions.
Types of OCD – Obsessesers Obsessesers often experience thoughts and images that are intrusive and show them causing others harm. They deal with these obsessions by repeated counting or saying certain words. Sufferers of this type of OCD may experience obsessions sans any observable rituals or compulsions.
If you suffer from OCD what category would you put yourself in? http://www.ofear.com/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=338 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD): View: www.epa1.co.uk/Omega_3_OCD.asp Take at least 4 Omega 3 fish oil supplements, daily: (certified free of mercury) it is best if consumed with an antioxidant, such as an orange, or its FRESHLY SQUEEZED juice. If vitamin E is added, it should be certified as being 100% from natural sources, or it may be synthetic: avoid it! Advice specific to sufferers of OCD: Take a high quality vitamin B complex, daily: choose one from a vitamin store, and ask for those which are certified as being 100% derived from natural sources, if available, which are more easily digested and fully utilised than the cheaper, synthetic ones. I also suggest that you check, and if necessary, supplement your intake of the minerals: magnesium, calcium, and zinc. Take a tablespoon of flaxseed oil daily as well, (or preferably a handful of ground flaxseeds) if you are a vegetarian/vegan and even fish oil is unacceptable: if the taste is too unpleasant for you, there are capsules., Drink ONE cup of green tea with added amino acids, separately, if you can't find the combination variety (from health food/vitamin stores). Dr. Mercola and others advise that farm raised salmon are unsuitable, so check out "krill oil" via the Mercola.com searchbar. Females may benefit by balancing the DHA, & EPA versions of Omega 3 in krill oil with ALA flaxseed oil Omega 3, or at least one heaped tablespoonful of ground flaxseed, daily. Vegetarians, and/or vegans: Google: "Omega 3; algae; supplies" and use a 50/50 mixture with flaxseed, or its oil. Avoid Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, or some diet colas and sodas). Also avoid anything containing caffeine, such as: coffee (decaffeinated may contain up to half the regular amount of caffeine!), regular tea, (green tea also contains a small amount of caffeine, but it is recommended, for the other benefits it provides, and if you have already been using other caffeine products, one cup daily should only amount to a small fraction of your previous intake) Coca Cola, Pepsi, chocolate, Excedrin, No Doze, cocoa, Dr. Pepper, Red Bull, or Mountain Dew - READ LABELS !!! Coffee substitutes such as Caro & Ecco, & herbal teas such as chamomile or mint (no mint for pregnant women!) are alright. There is a Carob based chocolate substitute. Some good advice, and more, is available at: www.natural-herbal-remedies.net/ocd.html Should you decide to try any of their herbal remedies, which I have no information on, I suggest discontinuing, or not beginning with the green tea/amino acids, otherwise you won't know which one is helping, if in fact, it does, in your case. The "helpguide", below, shows some other herbal remedies. See page b of this website for weblinks about St. John's Wort. Some sufferers recommend NeuroLinguistic Programming therapy: www.lifepositive.com/ or: www.mackay17/psolutions.co.uk/
Imagine, as vividly as you possibly can, that your concerns, anxieties, worries, fears, your self-recriminations, all the agonizing "I'm-so-Stupids"; every painful "I-can't-do-it", etc., are huge raging, hurtful bulls snorting and charging at you. You see them coming at you and you hold out your red matador's cape at arms length and simply let them charge right by. Every time they come at you, hold out your arm with the red cape and let them rage and snort and go right on past. THERAPISTS: See the introduction (section 1 of this website). http://1-800-therapist.com/index.html (USA) phone: 1 800 843 7274. Use the WebFerret search engine, or your own, and check the phone book under "therapists", or "psychologists", or "psychiatrists" and their associations. Acknowledge even small improvements in your condition. Avoid family rituals. OCD WEBSITES:www.mayoclinic.com/health/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/DS00189/DSECTION=10 & http://www.ocdhope.com/ & www.nami.org/ & www.mind.org.uk/ & http://familydoctor.org/133.xml & www.camh.net/ & www.helpguide.org/ & http://psychcentral.com/
SUPPORT GROUPS: For teens, there is: http://anxiety.wegohealth.com/ocd-support-group.html and for others, see www.ocfoundation.org/ and http://dailystrength.org At www.supportpath.com/ they have scheduled weekly chat on a range of topics. Also, www.psychforums.com/ Also http://www.nami.org/ & http://www.healthyplace.com/ Join [free] at www.myspace.com/ and click on "groups", in an upper toolbar, select: "other", and type: "OCD" in the bar provided; choose a group, maybe changing later, possibly exchanging email addresses. Also, Yahoo!: groups, and Google: groups. There are other websites for support groups, too: use the WebFerret search engine, or your own. See www.onestepatatime.com/ where there is a chatroom, and on joining [free] you are permitted one free email to their resident therapist (I haven't tried this, yet). Others recommend Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, which is known to work well with people experiencing moderate depression, or Exposure Response Prevention therapy (which sounds promising), but it will be some time yet before the most effective form of therapy for OCD is determined. One piece of advice which I came across and is worth mentioning is to restrict the OCD to one room, preferably an uncomfortable one. If depression, or self harm are involved, see pages b, and a, here at Weebly.
BOOKS: Read: Coping With OCD: Practical Strategies for Living Well With Obsessive-compulsive Disorder by Bruce M., Ph.D. Hyman and Troy Dufrene, & Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder For Dummies by Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith, & Overcoming Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Client Manual: A Behavioral and Cognitive Protocol for the Treatment of OCD (Best Practices Series) by Gail Steketee.
INOSITOL: I'd try inositol, (actually a B group vitamin) combined with Omega 3, and possibly other supplements, before resorting to powerful psychopharmaceuticals, with their inherent risks, side effects and withdrawal problems. If not considerably improved after several weeks, first check out any medications you may decide to try at www.drugs.com/ and be on the lookout from the beginning for any sign of problems with them. The standard treatment these days is therapy, supported initially, at least, with medication(s), but, in most cases, medications should be regarded as being like water wings, or training wheels on a bicycle: to provide support in the early stages, while the therapy takes effect. There is a good article on OCD, and the medications typically prescribed to treat it, at www.babpc.com/ Mindfulness is being recommended more often, and a mindfulness breathing technique is shown on page L, here. In a fairly unusual form of therapy, the sufferers are required to go out in public, and draw embarrassing attention to themselves, by dragging along a banana skin, tied to a string, and repeating "banana" aloud, or by calling out loudly the name of every train/subway/tube station they pass. From this, I assume they learn that their previous everyday behavio(u)r is regarded by others in exactly the same way, and it helps the sufferers to not do it in future. There are those who say that: "shame never heals": therapies vary widely, and, not having suffered form this disorder, I am unable to form an opinion as to its helpfulness, so I simply present it, for you to make your own decision, as with many of the other treatments in this website. The qualifications for someone to call themselves a therapist vary widely, according to location, so examine closely the 1-800-therapist website, and ask your therapist about the length of their training, and extent of experience in treating OCD. The following website is worth checking out for its OCD content: www.socialanxietyassist.com.au/useful_resources.shtml As someone with a scientific outlook, I appreciate the orthomolecular approach at www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/default.htm and the supplements at http://www.ultimate.org/neuro.html are also worth considering, but seek medical advice as to the vitamin content of the proprietary products on offer, since some considerably exceed the RDI. Also see www.vitamins.com/ IMPORTANT NOTE: Recently, an increased incidence of suicide has been noted with those people, especially younger people, taking Paroxetine (Seroxat), so, if you have been using this, see your health care provider, IMMEDIATELY! (and from www.anxieties.com/): Stop Obsessing! How to Overcome Your Obsessions and Compulsions (revised edition)
Edna Foa, Ph.D. & Reid Wilson, Ph.D.
ISBN # 0-553-38117-2
Bantam
$16.00
If you find yourself tormented by unwanted, disturbing thoughts or compelled to perform rigidly set actions to reduce your distress, you may be one of the millions of Americans who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It may be as mild as doubting whether you turned off the iron before leaving the house, or it may be as severe and disabling as washing your hands for hours each day. But whatever its degree, OCD is distressing, uncomfortable, and can disrupt your life or destroy your most important relationships.
DO ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS SOUND FAMILIAR?
You tend to worry…and you can’t get the worrisome thoughts out of your mind
You leave the house, but go back again and again to check whether you locked the door…turned off the stove…left the iron on
You save years and years of old magazines and newspapers because someday you might need an article
You repeat certain numbers or words in your head to feel "good" or "safe"
You need to arrange objects – like the things on a shelf or in a drawer – in a certain way or in a special pattern
You won’t use a public bathroom because you might be contaminated
You get upset if other people touch your things
You have violent, bizarre, or frightening thoughts or fear you might hurt someone you love
IF SO, THEN YOU MIGHT BE SUFFERING FROM AN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER. FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN…STOP OBSESSING! REGAIN CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE. If you find yourself tormented by unwanted, disturbing thoughts or compelled to perform rigidly set actions to reduce your distress, you may be one of the millions of Americans who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It may be as mild as doubting whether you turned off the iron before leaving the house, or it may be as severe and disabling as washing your hands for hours each day. But whatever its degree, OCD is distressing, uncomfortable, and can disrupt your life or destroy your most important relationships.
Until recently, OCD was considered to be almost untreatable using conventional forms of therapy. Now it is known to be a highly treatable disorder using behavior therapy. Drs. Foa and Wilson, internationally renowned authorities on the treatment of anxiety disorders, have developed a revolutionary self-help program that can help relieve crippling obsessions and compulsions. In Stop Obsessing! you will discover:
A series of questionnaires to help you analyze the severity of your obsessions and compulsions
An initial self-help program to overcome milder symptoms and reduce more severe cases
The most effective way to help you let go of your obsessions and gain control over your compulsions
An intensive three-week program for anyone who spends more than two hours a day on obsessions or rituals
Expert guidance in determining whether you need the added help of a professional
Stop Obsessing!'s powerful and reliable techniques have helped thousands of patients with OCD reduce or eliminate unwanted thoughts and rituals. Today, you or someone you love can recover and lead a normal life, free of excessive fears and worries. So why wait?
PART 1:Understanding Your Problem
DO YOU HAVE OBSESSIONS OR COMPULSIONS?
THE LIVES OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVES:
Washers and Cleaners; Checkers; Repeaters; Orderers; Hoarders; Thinking Ritualizers; Worriers; and Pure Obsessionals
PREPARING FOR YOUR SELF-HELP PROGRAM
PART II:The Initial Self-Help Program
MEETING THE CHALLENGES
LETTING GO OF WORRIES AND OBSESSIONS
MASTERING YOUR COMPULSIONS
PART III: The Intensive Three-Week Program
TREATMENT FOR RITUALIZERS
YOUR THREE-WEEK SELF-HELP PROGRAM
MEDICAL TREATMENT
GRADUATING FROM THE PROGRAM:
Encouraging Stores from Recovered Obsessive-Compulsives
OCD: LETTERS FROM SUFFERERS Indiana Frenchman The proven treatment for OCD concerns a combination of psychotherapy (usually cognitive behavioural therapy) and medication. Medication alone may relieve the symptoms but should be viewed as a compliment and not a substitute for effective psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT has been shown to be highly effective in treating OCD. Many studies suggest that CBT, correctly applied for a sufficient period of time, is more effective than medication. As it's name implies, CBT deals with the "cognitive" or thought processes of sufferers as well as their behaviour. CBT was originally developed in the early 1970's in the US by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck for treatment of depression. For OCD sufferers the "behaviour" element of CBT is based around exposure and ritual/response prevention, i.e. the fact that anxiety will decrease if one is exposed to the fear for a sufficient period. This method is very similar to the desensitisation methods used for phobias, e.g. arachnophobics are slowly exposed to spiders until they no longer cause them anxiety.
An alternative method of cognitive behavioural therapy which can be very effective in treating OCD (and anxiety) is mindfulness. This is essentially a mental training process enabling people to observe their inner experience calmly and with a feeling of clarity without responding to it. Our President, Dr Jeffrey Schwartz, expands on this concept in his highly respected book Brainlock (see books and tapes), often seen as the seminal text for OCD sufferers. Dr Schwartz's "Four-step programme" also provides the basis for the First Steps to Freedom anxiety self-help groups.
(the following is an extract from Yahoo: Answers): OCD is usually characterized more by intrusive thoughts that are experienced as intrusive and unreasonable despite a person's attempts to dispell or avoid the thoughts. These thoughts are not simply excessive worries about real situations or decisions. The compulsions are more than habits and are more like rituals often designed to neutralize the obsessive thoughts. (For example: the repetitive thought that my child will be kidnapped by a stranger neutralized by obsessive checking).
The OC Personality is preoccupied with rules, details and order to such an extent that the point of the activity is lost, is overly scrupulous about morals and ethics and tends to be rigid and inflexible in this regard. The OC Personality tends to be controlling and perfectionistic with little ability to appreciate or tolerate other's ways of doing things that differ from their own. The indecision here is associated with an excessive need to be "right" or perfect.
Diagnosis can be complicated as many features overlap across diagnoses and no disorder is based on only one or two symtoms. There is a wide variety of normal variation as well which does not reach clinical intensity. AND ALSO: How did I stop 90% of my OCD? I remember watching Dr. Schwartz. reknowed OCD specialist on the Roseanne Barr Show (she has it too) and he said to simply IGNORE the voice the saying that something tragic is going to happen. IGNORE it. I did and I feel I have finally succeeded on something totally on my own. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ONESTEPATATIME.COM: Obsessive Worry and Dwelling Serves a Purpose
I often have stressed that anxiety disorders can manifest themselves in many forms. But like panic attacks, obsessive worry, intrusive thoughts and dwelling are also reactions to issues and conflicts.
I will share with you one very interesting difference I have found between those clients experiencing panic symptoms versus those who experience obsessive-compulsive issues. Although my experience has demonstrated over and over that in both cases there are conflicts that have been avoided and need to be dealt with, those with significant OCD symptoms have one additional characteristic. They quite often have, at some time in their life, seen themselves as taking a risk or rebelling. In other words, although they typically are very responsible and often show perfectionistic tendencies, they also have deviated at times in their lives from their own expectations.
As is the case with a client I was speaking with recently, she was always a workaholic and was driven by the "shoulds", but saw herself break her own rules at times in her life. Maybe some drug experimentation, possibly a stretch of time where she became very promiscuous. So a deeper conflict arises between the drives of the primary personality that are challenged by this other rebellious side that periodically has popped its head up. This can cause the person to not quite trust herself, and therefore the obsessive worry can be a reaction to that self-doubt. Some experience the anxiety and panic, but also obsess and dwell because "they are afraid not to".
Obsessing can become a way to stay on guard or keep a vigilant eye on that other side of our personality. If I have seen myself screw up, how do I know I will not make bad choices and decisions again. Well no one can be perfect, but when you consider that many OCD clients are basically perfectionists, you can understand why their mistakes and lapses in judgment will cause more distress for them. They are feeling the potential to be "out of control" so they must go one step further to take control.
So I am stressing to you that IF you find yourself obsessing, although it can certainly be as uncomfortable as panic attacks, there is a reason why this is happening. You are reacting to conflicts and you need to identify what those conflicts are in your life. But also realize that the obsessing may serve a secondary purpose as discussed above. We must grow to trust ourselves and that we have matured through our experiences. But many do not trust that they have so their dwelling and obsessing goes on. _____________________________________________________________________________________ HOARDING: Oprah Winfrey did a show on this, so I suggest checking out her website, which, from memory, is www.harpo.com Google the subject, and "hoarding; support groups" A previous answer follows:
Hypnosis is merely a heightened state of suggestibility, in which you are better able to communicate with your subconscious mind. 85% of people are suggestible, to some degree, so you could either seek professional hypnotherapy, or hypnosisdownloads.com has ones about: Stop Compulsive Hoarding + Declutter Your Life. Also: Empty Nest Syndrome (go there, and click on them).
Is your mother subconsciously trying to replace relationships with the acquisition of things? Is it a response to the "empty nest" syndrome? Not feeling useful anymore, and needing to fill time? See volunteering, (even from her home, at http://your-mental-health.weebly.com/b.html See OCD on pages 1, & F) at In such a case, you could also suggest that she volunteers at a local hospital, in the children's ward, on a regular basis. Check out what is available in her area. Perhaps go along first, yourself, then, if you think she might be interested, ask her to come along on a little "surprise excursion" one day, for a tour, without pressuring her (which may well be counterproductive). Social workers may have other suggestions, so contact one, via the hospital, doctor, or free clinic.
Others have tried tempting them away for holidays, only to come back to a "surprise cleanup", but this is likely to cause feelings of resentment, or anger. Address the cause, not the symptoms. Save that problem for later; she may well take care of it herself, or not worry too much if a few little items seem to "disappear" occasionally, because she is otherwise occupied.
From §☼§ “Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding” by David F. Tolin, Randy O. Frost, and Gail Steketee is excellent. It explains what hoarding really is, and why it happens, and has little quizzes so you can figure out why it’s happening to the person affected. ~~~ Also: "Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring" by Michael A. Tompkins and Tamara L. Hartl, & "Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things" by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee, from your bookstore, or amazon.com
The other book is “Flanagan’s Smart Home,” by Barbara Flanagan, a woman who believes you need only 98 objects to furnish your entire life. She lists them, and tells you which are “best”. Ask any Fire Men what they call all that "stuff". They'll quaintly refer to it as "FUEL". http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/02/i-feel-bad-about-my-stuff-.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________ FROM EVERYDAYHEALTH.COM: OCD causes people to become fixated on anything from germs to accidents to injuries, which, in turn, leads to developing rituals to calm these obsessive thoughts. Some people with this anxiety disorder develop intrusive thoughts that they will inadvertently harm someone else. Jeff Bell, author of Rewind, Replay, Repeat: A Memoir of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, was terrified that he might injure someone with his car.
"What if I unknowingly through my negligence harmed or might harm somebody?" Bell used to ask himself. Obsessed with his fear of hurting someone, he became anxious each time he drove over a pothole or bump in the road, convinced that he had hit someone.
Bell was a news anchor at the time and frequently had to drive to cover stories. Eventually, he started taking cabs to assignments because of his OCD. What’s more, his driving obsession led to other obsessions, like washing his hands compulsively.
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Finally, Bell sought treatment for his OCD. With the aid of cognitive-behavioral therapy that helped desensitize him to his fears, Bell learned to manage his OCD. While Bell admits that his OCD may not be truly cured, he says he has learned to cope with the disorder and now lives a full life. “I still face challenges, but I have the tools that I need to confront the disorder and the more I confront it, the fewer challenges I have to face on a day-to-day basis," notes Bell.
OCD: Managing Anxiety Disorder Day-to-Day
If you're struggling with OCD, here are some tips that can help:
Explore your anxieties. Be honest about subjects that provoke your anxiety and then explore which fears are truly realistic and which aren't. "Anxiety loves ignorance, and anxieties are generated by these images in one's mind,” says Martin N. Seif, PhD, a clinical psychologist in New York City and Greenwich, Conn. “The imagery becomes so intense that you start to believe it." Challenging the validity of your obsessions can help offset some of your fear and discomfort.
Make a list. Write down your obsessions and compulsions, and slowly try to reduce your compulsive behaviors. Seif suggests actively trying to cut back on these behaviors: If you check the door 10 times before bed, try checking it only twice.
Acknowledge that compulsive rituals interfere with your life. Becoming aware of the negative impact that compulsive behaviors have on your life means you're ready to get help, says Seif. OCD can affect your job and your social life, and may quickly expand beyond your initial obsessions and compulsions. When you recognize that every day is disrupted by your rituals, it's time to seek therapy.
Face your fears with therapy. Cognitive-behavioral therapy uses repeated exposure to anxiety-provoking objects and situations to help desensitize you and alleviate your symptoms. Slowly you'll face and eventually overcome your fears. If you see that nothing bad happens even when you don’t wash your hands 20 times, you can slowly take control of your compulsive behaviors. Additionally, your doctor may prescribe anti-anxiety medications to help you through this process.
While living with OCD can be challenging, it is a disorder that can be managed effectively. When you want to take back control of your life, reach out for help. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anger with "Self" Creates Symptoms - ONESTEPATATIME.COM:
"I was recently talking with someone who has been hard at work attempting to break his pattern of obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors. His habitual intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviors has certainly effected the quality of his life, and of course his family has experienced some collateral damage due to his limitations. Briefly, so you might understand his dilemma, this man becomes overwhelmed with intrusive thoughts of harm coming to himself or his children especially when he comes into contact with anything that he sees as having germs or any other vague issue of contamination. Contamination fears are a common focus with those suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive issues.
The very good point here is that he IS taking serious steps to control both his thoughts and behaviors, not only for the sake of his wife and children, but also because he wants a better quality of life.
He has been very open to INSIGHT into WHY he suffers from the OCD, and that has made a huge difference. Even recently, although he has made progress, he faced the reality that his issues that were triggers for his OCD still had some hold on him. So we revisited those "SOURCE" issues, as each time we do, there is a greater grasp of what triggers episodes of obsessive thought. In this way, he will strengthen in his ability to rationally talk his way through those thoughts and effectively break the need to give into the urge to play out his compulsive behaviors.
As is the case for many OCD sufferers, anger with others for their behaviors towards them is an issue. People sometimes do things that can hurt other people. If those people happen to be ones that we care about or have trusted, like parents, spouses or friends, the hurt runs deeper and the anger is more intense. Anger is a powerful emotion, and while although often justified, can cause us conflict because anger , especially intense and long term anger that is being avoided or not expressed, can build and cause us to feel out of control emotionally. Anger creates conflicting emotions very deep in our emotional gut that when ignored or repressed, may come out in more intense forms at innocent people. That only creates MORE inner conflict.
However, often we are more angry with ourselves for ALLOWING certain people to harm us. As with this man, he had placed his trust in people who then disappointed him, hurt him. Often, we find ourselves too dependent on approval, so we walk back into similar situations or relationships where we again place ourselves in harms way. So, we become angry with ourselves for being vulnerable, weak, and not being in control.
The more this young man faces these issues and sees how he can set better boundaries and make better choices, the more he sees through actual experience that he can protect himself and not be as vulnerable, the less fear he will have. Then, he will stop subconsciously feeding energy into his obsessive thoughts of contamination". _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ From Yahoo!Answers: Lack of magnesium makes the irritation threshold lower and it is easier to worry about things. Fatigue is also a symptom of deficiency. http://www.carlg.org/engmagnesium.html
A number of studies agree that a deficiency is involved with OCD. My OCD is gone after a year of vitamin B12 treatment (i was severely deficient). A number of deficiencies are mentioned, namely calcium, magnesium, zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, Inositol, and other B vitamins.