{"id":27910,"date":"2025-05-16T09:02:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T09:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=27910"},"modified":"2025-05-16T09:24:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T09:24:03","slug":"o-c-d-may-look-different-than-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=27910","title":{"rendered":"O.C.D. May Look Different Than You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

When most people think of obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may picture behaviors they\u2019ve seen on TV \u2014 like repetitive hand-washing, flicking light switches on and off and meticulously arranging small items over and over.<\/p>\n

But the disorder manifests in many other ways. Some patients obsess over thoughts that they might hurt someone, while others fixate on certain aspects of their personal relationships.<\/p>\n

The comedian Maria Bamford, for example, has called her O.C.D.<\/a> \u201cunwanted thoughts syndrome.\u201d On \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert,\u201d she shared a story about how she couldn\u2019t stop thinking horrific thoughts about her family members. <\/p>\n

On social media, people describe many types of obsessions and compulsions: \u201crelationship O.C.D.<\/a>,\u201d \u201csexual orientation O.C.D.\u201d or \u201cemotional contamination O.C.D.\u201d These aren\u2019t separate diagnoses, but rather they are different expressions of the same disorder \u2014 much like how people with phobias can suffer from different fears, said Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez, an O.C.D. expert and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Understanding these distinctions can help clinicians tailor a precise treatment plan, she added. And they\u2019re important for the public to grasp as well. Otherwise, people who experience the disorder might not even recognize they have it, Dr. Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

People who are fearful of harming others might think, \u201cMaybe I am a murderer,\u201d she added. \u201cIf I tell anybody these things, I\u2019m going to be put in jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When most people think of obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may picture behaviors they\u2019ve seen on TV \u2014 like repetitive hand-washing, flicking light switches on and off and meticulously arranging small items over and over.But the disorder manifests in many other ways. Some patients obsess over thoughts that they might hurt someone, while others fixate on certain aspects of their personal relationships.The comedian Maria Bamford, for example, has called her O.C.D. \u201cunwanted thoughts syndrome.\u201d On \u201cThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert,\u201d she shared a story about how she couldn\u2019t stop thinking horrific thoughts about her family members. On social media, people describe many types of obsessions and compulsions: \u201crelationship O.C.D.,\u201d \u201csexual orientation O.C.D.\u201d or \u201cemotional contamination O.C.D.\u201d These aren\u2019t separate diagnoses, but rather they are different expressions of the same disorder \u2014 much like how people with phobias can suffer from different fears, said Dr. Carolyn Rodriguez, an O.C.D. expert and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Medicine.Understanding these distinctions can help clinicians tailor a precise treatment plan, she added. And they\u2019re important for the public to grasp as well. Otherwise, people who experience the disorder might not even recognize they have it, Dr. Rodriguez said.People who are fearful of harming others might think, \u201cMaybe I am a murderer,\u201d she added. \u201cIf I tell anybody these things, I\u2019m going to be put in jail.\u201dWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27912,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27910"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27913,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27910\/revisions\/27913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}