What Is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental illness that can affect anyone. One of the most common symptoms of OCD is you can’t break out of a pattern. The pattern is of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted, overwhelming thoughts, images, or urges that can make a person feel very upset. Compulsions are actions that people do to try to get rid of their obsessions or to make themselves feel better.
Most people have obsessive thoughts or do things over and over again without thinking about it. However, this does not mean that everyone has OCD. OCD causes are actually a cycle of obsessions and compulsions that are so bad, they take up a lot of time (more than an hour a day), cause a lot of stress, or get in the way of things that are important to the person. In other words, OCD symptoms must be so extreme that they meet all three of these conditions.
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