How you treat a family member with OCD

Vlog in English 3/7/2020
A viewer is emailing me about a family member that suffers from OCD and she does not realize she has a problem and her life quality as well as her family's declines.
What are the symptoms of OCD? How can we help a family member that faces this problem?

Thekla Petridou is a Greek Cypriot psychologist, author and YouTuber.

Η ψυχολόγος και συγγραφέας Θέκλα Πετρίδου ανεβάζει καθημερινά στο κανάλι της στο YouTube, αναρτήσεις με βίντεο ή αλλιώς Vlogs, στα οποία ασχολείται με θέματα ψυχοεκπαίδευσης.

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Αυτή η λειτουργία είναι προαιρετική.

[ΧριστίναΖορμπά-τυ]

Θέκλας μας, κανε το και στα Ελληνικά! Ενδιαφέρει πολύ κόσμο.

[tonpap]

My first memory of mild OCD was at the age of 9-10 years old: putting everything in order in the place I lived. After many years I realized that I associated tidying things with peace & calmness: when we were expecting guests at home everything was tidy and clean and the family had the perfect image. That was the ultimate trigger, I suppose. Life eased my ocd but it didn’t make it disappear.

[messpilo]

.I also have symptoms of OCD . My OCD is perfectionsim OCD> If something is not done perfectly then I am not satisfied.So I can not relax as I consider this not right My mother has OCD you described in your video cleaning the house not once but cleaning many times during the day.I have relatives with exactly the symptoms you describe on your video. One thing which i found helpful is not to act straight away when you have the compulsion and stay inactive then you see this thought get weaker and weaker . I have read few books about this.

[christiakyprianou]

Hi kiria Thekla,

As a person who studied psychology, did my masters in clinical psychology, worked in the NHS, being in psychotherapy for many years and from my own personal reading, I disagree with you as to the causes of OCD. The link between genetics and OCD is very unclear. It’s also extremely odd to me a person to be genetically predisposed to obsessions and compulsions. Rather, I strongly believe that the cause may be explained by looking at the family environment and childhood of the person affected. I agree with the psychoanalytic approach saying that OCD is a manifestation of the person’s chaotic life and the difficulty of being in control. Like anorexia nervosa, the person feels that there is no control over anything else in their life apart from eating. Thanks! :)