How Can I Better Manage My OCD Symptoms?

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimated in 2015 that roughly 2 million Americans live with OCD. The letters stand for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a chronic anxiety condition marked by unwanted, intrusive thoughts (the obsessions) paired with repetitive, impulse-driven behaviors (the compulsions). It shows up across every age group and every background.

The behaviors people recognize most are washing hands over and over, rocking, counting without stopping, going back again and again to confirm the stove is off or the door is locked. Alongside those come the mental pieces: frightening, negative thoughts and images that push their way in. What makes the condition so painful is that the person usually understands the thoughts and rituals make no logical sense. Knowing that and being able to switch it off are two very different things.

Hours can disappear into obsessing or into performing a ritual that temporarily quiets the anxiety. That cost spills into everything: romantic relationships, holding down a job, time with friends, raising kids, finishing ordinary tasks, reaching for longer goals. People tend to brush the disorder off or turn it into a punchline, and that does real damage, because for the person living inside it there is nothing funny about any of it. If you recognize yourself here, the sections below walk through ways to get a firmer grip on your symptoms.

Start by learning what you are actually dealing with. What are the signs? What does it do to you in the short term and over years? How do clinicians treat it? Reading up matters more than people assume, partly because OCD rarely stands on its own. Think of it as a surface signal of something going on underneath rather than the whole problem. Managing it well usually means turning toward the emotional pain feeding the anxiety instead of only fighting the rituals.

Next, go looking for the source. What sets the symptoms off? Where is the anxiety coming from, and when did you first notice it taking hold? Tracing the origin tells you a lot. Some people develop OCD after a trauma, and the risk seems higher when they felt powerless over whatever happened to them. The disorder often works as a coping mechanism: when life feels out of your hands in the big areas, you pour energy into the small corners you can still control.

Let yourself be angry. That sounds strange, but stuffing feelings down tends to backfire. Anger that never gets expressed can reroute itself into anxiety, so it helps to move it out before it takes over your days. Getting closer to what you really feel is part of the work. If something that happened to you still makes you furious, let the anger have a voice. I am not suggesting you pick a fight. I am saying acknowledge the feeling in a way that is safe: talk it through with a friend, fill pages of a journal, bring the unresolved parts to a counselor. As the anger starts to come out, the anxiety and the compulsions often ease off with it.

Breathe, and breathe deliberately. The next time a panic attack hits, try it. When a situation turns stressful or overwhelming, or when you feel the symptoms starting to climb, slow your breathing down. Pull the air in from your diaphragm and let it leave slowly on the exhale. If the moment is too much, step away from it entirely. Find somewhere quiet and private and keep breathing that way until the anxiety loosens its grip.

Build up a set of healthier ways to cope. A counselor can hand you strategies that settle your mind, bring the stress down, and either head off the symptoms or shrink them. Keep a few on standby so you can reach for one the moment anxiety rises. Go for a fast walk or a jog around the block or the office, sit down to meditate, take the dog out, phone someone you trust, buy yourself a new outfit, get a manicure, turn the music up and dance in your room, pick up an instrument, make plans with friends.

Wean yourself off the rituals and the intrusive images, and do it gradually. Say you check the kitchen door ten times every morning before leaving. For the first month, aim for nine. Once nine feels steady, tighten it: eight for the following month, then keep dropping the count until you are down to checking once or twice on your way out. This takes real time. Pushing too hard too fast tends to spike the anxiety and send the symptoms in the wrong direction, so small steps are fine, and if one step needs longer, give it longer. Rushing invites a setback.

A few cautions. If you think you have OCD, book a consultation with a mental health professional: a psychologist, psychiatrist, clinical social worker, or therapist. And do not try to strip away the obsessions and compulsions without first putting better coping tools in their place. Those behaviors are doing a job right now, quieting your anxiety, so pulling them out with nothing to replace them leaves you exposed, and in the worst case that can tip someone into a breakdown.

Dr. R. Y. Langham

References: Anxiety and Depression Association of America (2015), Anxiety: Facts and statistics. Anxiety and Depression Association of America (2015), Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Bailey, E. (2012), 7 self-help tips for managing obsessive-compulsive disorder, Health Central.