OCD and anxiety are both classified as anxiety disorders, with persistent anxious thoughts causing excessive worry or compulsive behavior. Treatment for both includes medication and cognitive-behavioral therapy to help sufferers change their thoughts and attitudes.
The basic connection between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety is that both are classified as anxiety disorders. In most people, unpleasant sensations such as nervousness, tension or fear go away after a certain period of time. For people with anxiety disorders, these feelings become persistent and can make social situations or daily activities difficult. In people with OCD, thoughts that most people don’t dwell on, such as a fear of germs, become habitual and debilitating. OCD and anxiety are similar in that anxious thoughts become persistent and cause excessive worry or compulsive behavior.
Anxiety disorder is an umbrella term that includes panic disorder, in which panic attacks occur, and phobias. “Anxiety” usually refers to generalized anxiety disorder. People with generalized anxiety disorder may worry excessively about the health of their heart, their breathing, or the safety of their children, for example. Concentration can become difficult, muscles become tense, and you may experience difficulty sleeping, among other things.
OCD refers to obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions. Examples of obsessive thoughts include checking and double-checking if the stove is off, if the door is locked, or if your hands are clean enough. Sufferers develop compulsive behaviors such as excessive hand washing and rituals such as checking the locks on doors over and over again.
Because OCD and anxiety both occur on the anxiety disorder spectrum or scale, different ideas have emerged to explain them at the same time. Early psychoanalysts looked for the source of OCD and anxiety in childhood experiences. Today, psychologists tend to explain OCD and anxiety with one of two viewpoints or a combination. These views are that OCD and anxiety stem from a biological origin, usually in the brain, or from a learning mechanism that reinforces anxiety-causing thoughts.
Those who advocate the learning method assume that increased attention to anxious thoughts also increases the attention people pay to anxiety-inducing events. For example, someone who thinks about all the bad things that could happen in a social situation before it happens, and then ruminates on the event after it’s over, may be more likely to develop social anxiety. Similarly, repeatedly thinking about the illnesses germs can cause, and then washing your hands to relieve stress, can reinforce both thoughts and behavior. Others look for the role that certain parts of the brain and brain chemicals play in OCD and anxiety.
Treatment for OCD and anxiety is somewhat similar. Medication may be prescribed; some antidepressants can help people with both disorders. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, useful for both disorders, aims to help sufferers change their thoughts and attitudes without focusing too much on the cause. It basically consists of helping people with OCD and anxiety learn to control their responses to stressful thoughts, which allows them greater freedom in their actions.
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