Can’t OCD Be Overcome By Willpower?

U Cannot Control the Thoughts But Can Control the Reactions

Hence, React With Indifference

All of us are unique with our own habits, superstitious beliefs, or harmless little rituals that are carried out or adhered to on a fairly regular basis. Examples of such acts are wearing some lucky socks or avoiding walking under a ladder, a black cat, and such conditions.

However, for people who are suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, these unique habits take on some different form, called compulsions. For someone with a condition like OCD, obsessions and compulsions leads to crippling distress and it shall easily begin interference in regular everyday activities.

Popular media portrays the condition of OCD as a personality quirk of people who are picky, extremely phobic, or downright fixated with complete cleanliness habits. The issue is that these portrayals are not exactly what OCD is about, which further leads to a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is manifested in various ways, varying greatly from person to person. There is definitely much more to it than what is commonly portrayed in some of the movies and Television, usually a lot more difficult to deal with, and quite debilitating in numerous cases.

OCD And Willpower

One of the huge misconceptions is that sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder just have a bunch of annoying habits, which can be controlled or restricted anytime.

Understand that the health condition of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental illness that means there is something fundamentally wrong in the way the brain is all wired or supposed to function well. In fact, therein lays the issue: those are unfortunate enough for having OCD and the ability to just “switch it off.” This is why they are just unable to control intrusive thoughts (obsessions). 

 

For normal people, some might have the occasional disturbing, intrusive thought, but ultimately, it can be shrug off and moved with the day. Now imagine for a moment what happens in case you cannot even shrug off such thoughts, and cannot move on with a normal day.

Sufferers of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder like condition are simply unable to do the same. Those with OCD have little or no control over such obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors, and this condition causes a great deal of anxiety and distress altogether.

For people with OCD, this is not a willpower issue but it is more of a physiological inability for correctly processing these thoughts as of the way the brain might be all wired.