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For example, they may focus on safety, such as turning the stove off and on several times before feeling safe.
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Some patients with OCD fixate on other things. However, the symptoms are still the obsessions and compulsions, not the cleaning itself. People with OCD may also feel the need to organize everything to make sense of their thoughts. For many patients, obsessive thoughts revolve around germs, which makes the compulsions manifest as obsessive cleaning. Is obsessive cleaning a symptom of OCD? Sometimes, yes. Do All People with OCD Clean Obsessively? For a patient to qualify for a diagnosis, these obsessive thoughts and compulsions must interrupt their lives for at least one hour per day, but the symptoms often are even more severe. In some cases, refusing to give into a compulsion can cause panic attacks. However, the obsessive thoughts are so convincing and real, that the patient feels unable to stop. People with OCD often know that their fears and compulsions are illogical. For example, someone may believe that if she does not turn the light on and off exactly three times, something bad will happen. These thoughts often create compulsive behaviors.
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Someone who lives with the disorder experiences obsessive, worrying thoughts that they cannot seem to get rid of. OCD is a serious mental disorder that affects one in 40 adults and one in 100 children in the United States. Understanding and spreading the truth about the disorder can help people who have real symptoms of OCD seek the treatment they need. Not only are these uses of the term inaccurate, but they also serve to further the stigma of the disorder. Characters with OCD on television obsess over germs and people say they feel “OCD” when they organize their homes. In both popular media and everyday speech, the term “OCD” *meaning Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is synonymous with being unusually clean and organized. Is Being a “Neat Freak” the Same as Having OCD?
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