Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms can be complex and challenging. When you’re experiencing OCD symptoms, you may worry about your sanity. You may feel that your OCD is making you crazy. While OCD can be hard to manage, improvement is possible. Understanding your condition can be an important first step toward finding effective coping strategies and treatment methods.

Research finds that anywhere from 1% to 3% of the global population has OCD. You are not alone, and you’re not crazy. Are you not sure whether you have OCD? Learning about the symptoms of OCD can help you get insights into your condition. This should be followed by an assessment from a mental health professional. If you have OCD, seeking treatment as soon as possible can be vital.

Potential OCD symptoms

When thinking about symptoms that you’re experiencing, it can help to avoid terms like “crazy.” “Crazy” is not a particularly useful term, and there’s little to no evidence to support the idea that people who have OCD are crazy. Rather than seeing your symptoms as signs that you are going crazy, it can be more productive to consider how they are connected to your OCD. Some OCD symptoms you may be experiencing include:

• Persistent worry — OCD can lead to persistent worries and fears. These concerns often have to do with something bad happening in the future. For example, you may often worry about family members being hurt, even when there is no impending threat or risk. These fears are generally unrealistic. However, they can feel intense and convincing in the moment. For some people with OCD, these worries can include a fear of going crazy. You may worry that you are losing touch with reality, or that you might lose control of yourself and hurt those you care about. 
• Ritual behaviors — People with OCD often engage in ritual behaviors. These behaviors can range from keeping household items arranged in a certain order to compulsive counting. Ritual behaviors often feel urgent and necessary. You may worry about major negative consequences for failing to act in a certain way. Though rituals can feel helpful, they tend to take a large amount of time and energy. Finding a way to stop your ritual patterns can be an important part of managing your condition.
• Intrusive thoughts — Intrusive thoughts are unwanted thoughts that suddenly spring into your head. These thoughts may disrupt your regular thinking and often come as a surprise. When experiencing intrusive thoughts, it’s important to understand their source. People with OCD tend to have intrusive thoughts relating to their deepest fears. If you are strongly opposed to violence, for example, you may experience intrusive thoughts about hurting people. This does not mean you’re a violent person. In fact, it can indicate the opposite. The same is true with intrusive thoughts about going crazy. These thoughts may be a sign that you value mental stability and fear losing control over your mind.

Types of OCD

There are no official categories for OCD. However, generalized categories can still be a useful tool for identifying aspects of your condition. Some symptom themes in OCD include:

• Relationship OCD
• Responsibility OCD
• Contamination and cleaning OCD
• Unacceptable thought OCD
• Checking OCD
• Organization OCD

If you often worry about your sanity, you may be experiencing OCD symptoms centered around a theme of losing control. You may feel like it’s your job to keep people safe and prevent bad things from happening.Your OCD might lead you to be hyperaware of your actions and how they affect those around you. You may constantly doubt yourself and feel as though you don’t do enough. The fears associated with OCD can lead to constant mental checking to make sure you haven’t made any mistakes.

How to manage your OCD symptoms

When trying to control your OCD symptoms, managing stress is key. Relaxation techniques can play a major role in reducing your symptoms. People with OCD often benefit from professional treatment as well. Therapy can be helpful, though weekly therapy sessions are not always enough. If you need more support, a more comprehensive treatment program may be a better option.

Mental health treatment providers can help with symptom management in many ways. One helpful treatment method is identifying triggers that worsen your symptoms. Identifying your triggers can help you build better coping skills and enable you to avoid situations that lead to more stress and anxiety.

Address your OCD symptoms with Lightfully

At Lightfully, you can experience OCD treatment that is evidence based, clearly defined, data driven and centered on the whole person. We view clients as more than diagnoses — we understand that your situation is unique and requires a personalized approach. Our deeply compassionate experts are committed to helping each client address their symptoms and meet their mental health improvement goals.

Change is possible. When you’re ready to get comprehensive support managing your OCD symptoms, reach out to our Admissions Concierge Team. We’ll take the next steps together, toward the fullest, brightest version of you.