Do you have recurrent obsessions (thoughts) or compulsions (behaviors) that take up time in your day and slow you down or cause you or others distress or impair your life in some way? Do you recognize the obsessions or compulsions are excessive or unreasonable? Do you have persistent thoughts, ideas, impulses, or images that are experienced as intrusive and inappropriate and that cause anxiety or distress? Do you have a need to have things in a particular order? Some individuals with OCD experience obsessions as sexual images, such as recurrent pornographic images. Do you attempt to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralize them with some other thought or action? Do you recognize the obsessional thoughts, impulses, or images are a product of your own mind?
Do you have a fear of driving because you're afraid that maybe you ran over someone, and you come home and compulsively search on the internet to see if by chance you ran over someone and didn't remember it when it happened? Do you compulsively check the stove to make sure you turned it off? Do you repeatedly check to see if you locked the door to your house?
Do you have repetitive behaviors, such as hand washing, ordering, cleaning, checking, or mental acts, such as praying, counting, or repeating mental words silently that you feel driven to perform in response to your obsessions? Do you adopt rules rigidly to try to cope? Do your obsessions or compulsions cause you marked distress, consume your time, or interfere with your normal routine, school, work, social activities or relationships? I'm a doctor and I can help. I'm Dr. Nikolaidis, Top Orange County Psychologist, and I specialize in helping people suffering from Anxiety Disorders. To contact me at my Newport Beach, Orange County office call now, click or text (949)791-7127 for a free phone consultation.
