OCD Themes Revealed

Well, if you've ever studied octopus behavior, you know that these animals are masters of disguise. They can change their color and form and even skin texture to allude detection. Well, no matter if an octopus looks like a rock or an anemone or a jellyfish or a mantis shrimp, it's still an octopus. We'll think of the OCD monster as an octopus of sorts.

Obsessions can morph and change too. How can OCD show up in your loved one's life?

I was talking to a mom, Ruby, who said my daughter was an adult when she was diagnosed with OCD. She came home to celebrate my husband's birthday, and we got into a huge fight. At the dinner table, I saw her tapping with a knife on the table. So when we were washing dishes, I asked her if she noticed the tapping. She got very angry and said, mom, stop being the OCD police.

Sometimes tapping is just tapping. Well, as Ruby and I did some coaching around this disconnect, we came to the real heart of the issue. Ruby felt guilty that her daughter suffered so long before anyone made the diagnosis of OCD. She said, I wish I could turn back the hands of time and recognize my daughter's obsessions and compulsions for what they were. They were symptoms of OCD.

And I can completely relate. It's taken a while for me to forgive myself for not knowing what I didn't know about OCD before my own son was diagnosed. So in this episode, I'd like to share with you common themes of obsessions. This is important to know because these themes can morph. But here's the most important thing to remember.

At their core, all obsessions are the same. They're repetitive, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts or images or urges that cause anxiety. Someone with OCD learns to engage in actions to reduce their distress. These are the compulsions. The goal of OCD management is the willingness to sit with uncertainty of a worrisome thought and lean into the discomfort triggered by the obsessions.

Common OCD Themes

So here are the most common obsession themes. Probably the most frequently known is the fear of contamination. Now in ancient and medieval periods, this fear made sense. People should have concerns about physical cleanliness or disease or infection. It is very understandable how and why people with OCD have contamination as an OCD theme.

Next, people get concerned about symmetry and order obsessions. So this is a need for things to be perfectly aligned or organized in a specific way. Sometimes people with this theme engage in ritualistic behavior to ensure objects are symmetrical or placed just right. Then there is the harm theme. So people fear that they will harm either oneself or others.

They have a fear about losing control and acting on violent impulses. Then there's religious or scrupulosity obsessions. This is really about an excessive fear of sinning or blasphemy or religious impurity. People with this obsession focus on moral perfection and the fear of offending a deity. Then there are sexual obsessions.

These are unwanted intrusive sexual thoughts or fears of inappropriate behavior. And interestingly enough during Victorian times, individuals with these obsessions were particularly stigmatized due to social taboos around sexuality. Then there's existential or philosophical obsessions, and this went back to the ancient philosophers. This is about ruminating on the nature of existence or the meaning of life or metaphysical concepts. Many historical texts reference individuals obsessing over unsolvable philosophical questions.

Then there's superstitious or magical thinking obsessions. These are fears related to curses or magics or supernatural events. So oftentimes with this theme, we see compulsive behavior aired at avoiding bad luck or warding off evil forces. Then there's health or somatic obsessions. This is a hypochondriallike obsession focusing on the belief that a person has a serious undiagnosed illness.

So historical cases often included fears about plagues or other deadly diseases. Then there are counting and number obsessions. Historically, there are references to religious monks engaging in obsessive counting during prayers. Modern day individuals with OCD might engage in compulsive counting rituals for comfort. Then there's moral OCD.

Famous Figures Who Struggled in Silence

Am I a good person? Am I worthy of love? Historical figures, particularly in the Puritanical Society, exhibited perfectionism in behavior and thoughts. Looking back, historians believe that there are people throughout history who were thought to have OCD like tendencies. For example, Martin Luther is believed to have struggled with scrupulosity, a religious form of OCD.

He reportedly had obsessive concerns about sin and salvation and his moral standing and would perform compulsive prayers and confessions to relieve his anxiety. Then there's Charles Darwin. He had obsessive worries about his health and compulsive checking about behaviors related to his scientific work. The famous English writer Samuel Johnson, known for his contributions to the English dictionary, exhibited compulsive behaviors such as repetitive counting and touching rituals. He had obsessive concerns about religious and moral matters, often reflecting classic symptoms of OCD.

Nikola Tesla, the Serbian American inventor and engineer famous for his contributions to the alternating current of electricity, was known to have numerous compulsive rituals. He reportedly had an obsession with the number 3 and had a stronger version to round objects and would wash his hands obsessively. Then, of course, there's a story of Howard Hughes who had extreme cleanliness rituals and an intense fear of contamination, which eventually led to his complete social isolation. Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author known for his fairy tales, exhibited symptoms of obsessive fears about death and being buried alive. You might not know that Ludwig von Beethoven had some obsessive tendencies included repetitive handwashing and rituals around composing.

He is said to have compulsively rewritten music, sometimes obsessing over a single note or passage for years. Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance artist known for painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling and sculpting David is believed to have exhibited compulsive perfectionism in his work, revisiting and reworking pieces obsessively. His intense focus on the tiniest details has been speculated to be his form of OCD. Then there's Winston Churchill who had obsessive thoughts, again, related to cleanliness and contamination. Though not definitively diagnosed with OCD, his extreme focus on certain fears and behaviors suggest possible OCD tendencies.

And then there's Thomas Jefferson, who is also believed to have had compulsive tendencies. Some historians suggest that Jefferson exhibited ritualistic behaviors and obsessive attention to routine and detail in his daily life and work. So while none of these historic figures were formally diagnosed with OCD, their documented behaviors and writing suggests that they may have experienced symptoms consistent with the disorder. Their stories help highlight that even individuals who have achieved greatness and left a lasting impact on the world may have struggled with this mental health challenge, offering reassurance and insight to those dealing with OCD today. What is the take home message here?

It's that OCD themes can morph. They can change. OCD can try to camouflage itself. But at the core, all OCD themes are the same. It's these obsessive, unwanted, repetitive thoughts or images or urges that lead to high levels of anxiety.

Now from the outside, if you're the parent of somebody with OCD, you might in fact be in a better position to take a look at your adult child's blind spot and see things that they cannot see. Talk with your child about how they would like to handle this. What would they like you to do? And then be respectful about what their wishes are. So that's what I've got for you today, friend.

And if nobody has told you yet today, I admire your courage. Managing OCD may be the hardest job I've ever taken on. So whether you're an OCD warrior or an OCD caregiver champion, you are not alone. There's hope for a better tomorrow.

You've got this.