Obsessive−compulsive disorder (OCD): Adults, Children, Causes, Symptoms, Treatment (My relative/friend has OCD)

Check out this website on OCD-UK if you want to learn more about the characteristics of OCD and to help your friend or relative with OCD. Also, it will be helpful to you if you want to understand how to act properly and not to seem rude with someone who has OCD.

It's quite hard to fight against the obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms, so any improvement is great, even the one that seems very insignificant. So, when you see any improvement in your friend or relative with an OCD, praise them about it, and let them feel that he or she is getting better, as it will speed up the further results.

OCD symptoms get worse when they are criticized or blamed. So never critisize anyone that shows the signs of OCD. it is very important for you to learn to view signals of OCD as symptoms and not as personal traits and support that person as much as possible.

Feel free with the person with OCD like with anyone else. Even if he or she asks you "Did I close the door?" for the fifth time, just say "Yes, I am sure, you closed the door.". The most sophisticated explanations and proovings won’t work and can cause even more "What if?" in the head of person with OCD. So just act simple and positive.

Day-to-day comparisons don't work because they can’t show the whole picture and if you say to your close one that yesterday his or her OCD symptoms were not as noticeable as today or something like "Tomorrow will be a new day and you will be better," it can upset the person and it can actually sound like "Today you failed," so the symptoms can get even worse. It is important to look at overall changes since the OCD treatment began and to support your close one.

The less you critisize the better, for sure, but it doesn't mean that you need to ignore the signs of OCD behavior. When you see your friend or family member making one of the OCD rituals, kindly say that you want them to recover as much as they do, that's why you want to remind them that the rituals are tricks of OCD that you both want to fight.

The Man Who Couldn't Stop is a real story of a man with OCD. The book explains what is OCD and how it can influence people's lives. It will be helpful to both the ones that have OCD and their relatives and close ones.

Just Checking is a wonderful book written by a young woman who has OCD for many years. It is honest, funny and deep and it will be helpful to the ones with OCD and to the ones who want to help their friends or family members who have OCD.

If your friend or family member has OCD, you must know that it is going hand in hand with stress. As an OCD treatment, try to avoid any stressful situations when you are in company with the person that has OCD.

There is no total treatment for OCD or a magical OCD medication, but there are a lot of ways to cope the symptoms of it. But even this needs a lot of time. Please, be patient and kind with a person who is trying to make their life with OCD easier and the "healing" process will be faster.