The Symptoms of Severe OCD

Often beginning during the teen years, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by feelings of anxiety, despair and, in severe cases, even paranoia. While mild OCD may cause the sufferer to experience discomfort and worry, severe OCD may lead to an inability to take part in healthy relationships while reverting to alcohol or drug abuse to dull the senses. According to MayoClinic.com, some individuals may entertain suicidal thoughts.

Obsessions

• The driving force of OCD is the inability to control one's thoughts about everyday occurrences, leading the sufferer to imagine the worst possible outcome from any given situation. For example, an individual suffering from severe OCD may experience extreme anxiety over the presence of a dog in his yard. He may worry that the dog had rabies and microscopic parts of a virus are present on the grass where he walked. The thought may so bother him that he sprays his entire yard with a disinfectant.

Compulsions

• Obsessive thoughts trigger compulsive behavior in an OCD sufferer, and the more severe the disorder is, the more compulsive the actions may be. In children and teenagers, the need to control small parts of their environment may be found in extensive and complicated morning or bedtime rituals. These compulsions may include reciting phrases repeatedly to ward off bad luck or the need to return to school or to their bedroom numerous times to make sure they haven't forgotten anything.

Irrational fears

• A common symptom of severe OCD is the presence of irrational fears that can be emotionally and socially crippling to the individual. Obsessive thoughts of becoming ill may trigger extreme compulsive behaviors, such as washing so often that one's hands become chapped or picking at one's skin until sores develop.

Dangerous thoughts

• Severe OCD patients may entertain thoughts of harming their own children or of committing violent or aberrant sexual acts. They may feel deeply ashamed of their thoughts, and they may develop rituals that they believe keep them from performing the acts. According to Patrick B. McGrath, Ph.D., author of The OCD Answer Book, these individuals are not at risk for actually committing the deviant acts.

Panic Attacks

• When obsessive thoughts become so distressing, individuals with OCD are at risk of suffering a panic attack, said McGrath. Once an OCD patient experiences a panic attack, he/she may develop agoraphobia, the fear of going places and of being around people.

Treatment

• Although some OCD patients prolong seeing a mental health professional about their obsessions and compulsions, when they do, psychiatric treatment, including counseling, may prove beneficial in reducing their symptoms and avoiding future panic attacks.