OCD can be a challenging mental health condition to live with. Getting the assistance of a mental health professional in handling it is essential. However, between consultations with your therapist, there are steps you can take to help control the symptoms. It all starts with actively educating yourself about the condition, how it manifests, and how to ease the symptoms when they occur. Management is key, and that’s what the following tips will help you do as part of your care.
Important Tips and Things To Know About OCD
As you speak with your therapist, one of the first things you’ll learn is how OCD is often treated. One of the first parts of managing your OCD is avoiding stress. Stress is one of the most well-known triggers for OCD. Managing your stress and avoiding periods of intense stress is an important part of managing your OCD. Unfortunately, some stress management techniques can actually increase the severity of your symptoms. Some basic self-care treatments include eating a proper diet, sleeping well, and getting enough exercise. Meditation and adherence to your treatment plan can also help.
Other tips for managing your OCD include:
- Managing Anxiety – Excessive worry is a common part of OCD. Worry can lead to you hyperfocusing on the themes that drive your obsessions. Potential consequences of the condition are also common foci of this worry. However, things such as work performance and paying bills can also be things your worry tries to focus on. Learning techniques for managing worry, and which techniques work for you, is essential.
- Practice Relaxing – It should come as no surprise that relaxing is essential. With stress and worry being driving factors behind your symptoms, learning how to ease them is essential. Meditation is a valuable tool, but so is staying active and avoiding things that trigger your concern.
- Get Enough Exercise – It can be an essential part of keeping OCD symptoms at bay. Research has shown that this condition responds well to staying active. This is great, as an added benefit is the reduction of diabetes risk, heart disease, and cholesterol levels. There’s even research suggesting that running can help limit the intensity and frequency of your OCD symptoms.
- Practice Mindfulness – Mindfulness is the practice of focusing on the here and now. This includes awareness of how you’re feeling right now, the sights and sounds around you, and how your body is feeling. This can help you be aware of disturbances that cause your symptoms to flare. This practice helps reduce investment in your thoughts and brings into focus that a thought is mere words or images. This realization can lead to the knowledge that they are nothing to fear, and that no action is necessary.
These represent a small sample of the actions you can take to help improve the results of your OCD treatment.
Speak To Your Therapist For Further Guidance
Speaking to your therapist is one of the most essential steps to managing your OCD. Regular visits and clear communication about the struggles you face can lead to constructive steps in managing your condition. Reach out to your therapist and schedule your next visit today!
