Over compulsive disorder is a common chronic long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable re occurring thoughts (obsessions) behaviors (compulsions) that he feels the urge to repeat over-and over again. Symptoms include fear of germs, contamination, having things symmetrical or in perfect order. Compulsions include excessive cleaning, hand washing, repeatedly checking on things like if the door is locked to mention but a few.

I have been holed up at home this week by choice because I am such a good self-professed workaholic and sometimes I get a burn out and convince my boss to give me a break to recuperate so I got a week off to myself and decided to stay home doing absolutely nothing but sleeping, eating and watching movies. As fate would have it, this childhood friend of mine decided to visit. she called a day in advance asking if she could spend two nights at my place. she asked so nicely and did not give me time to react which brings us to the topic at hand OCD.

I have known her for ages, don’t get me wrong I love her to bits but I can’t stand her most times. We are brutally honest with each other and I have on several occasions told her I could never live with her under the same roof which makes me wonder why she wishes to impose her condition on me. I am tempted to pick up the phone and recommend a good hotel but then what kind of friend would that make me. I take my holidays Serious and am not about to ruin this one by going into a cleaning frenzy.

I decided to delegate this cleaning job to my maid who I give instructions on how to clean the guest room. I asked her to use detergent and disinfectant and then wrote a list of more disinfectants, bacterial wipes, antiseptic soap which I asked her to put in the bathroom. I further requested her to strip the bed of bedsheets and remove the towels from the bathroom, knowing my pal, she would not use any of these. I have slept with her in the same hotel room, she travels with her bedsheets, towels, disinfectant, vinegar, baking soda, name it! The first thing she does is strip the bed, flip the mattress and change her bedsheets. I would not mind her obsession but she insisted on imposing her abnormal behavior on me. She arrived and found me still poised on my favorite sofa watching “Haves and Have Nots” if you have watched this series then you know how addictive it is. We hugged, kissed, jumped around excitedly then her OCD set in with her arranging cushions, straightening Calendars, sweeping this, cleaning that until I sent her off to her room with a broom, mop and bucket. After all this hard labor she is starved but because of her disorder, she had to cook her own food. Luckily, I had enough disposable plates, forks and spoons for her to use. she cannot share any of these.

Its important to know that a person with OCD cannot control her thoughts and behavior and they do not get any pleasure from performing these tasks or rituals. Such people experience significant problems in life due to this behavior. Some OCD may come and go or ease with time and in some cases, it may worsen.

After spending two days with my friend, I couldn’t help but feel compassion for her, how does one live like this? And in her case, she seemed to have worsened, I decided to carry out some research and discovered that OCD could in fact be treated. It was time to sit her down and give her some tough love, my dear friend had come to rest, she thought by coming to see me she would get some time off to sleep, which she badly needed considering the size of the eye bags under her eyes

Its easier to identify a child with OCD, some of them adapt it as a result of trauma and abuse, OCD is also genetic.