Having these sacrilegious images made him feel that he had lost his souls for eternity. .
In addition to these two problems, he was having trouble driving. When he felt a bump as his tire rolled over a little stone, he would think that he may have accidentally run over a pedestrian. He would instantly check his rearview mirror for the injured person he feared was lying on the road. Relived to not see an injured person, he would start driving forward. Obsessing that the injured person might have been flung entirely off the road by the impact, he would then stop, and back up his car to the scene, and search the ditch and the weeds. These obsessions and compulsions were taking over his life but he was too embarrassed to tell anyone about them, even his psychiatrist, up till now." (Internet 1) .
OCD is an anxiety related disorder and is a potentially disabling condition that can persist throughout a person's life. An individual who suffers from OCD becomes trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that are senseless and distressing but are extremely difficult to overcome. OCD occurs on a continuum from mild to severe. At the severe continuum, if left untreated, it can destroy a person's capacity to function at work, at school or even at home. .
What is OCD .
The key features of OCD are obsessions and compulsions as stated in DSMIV. Obsessions are persistent ideas, thoughts, impulses or images that are experienced as inappropriate and intrusive and that cause a high level of anxiety or distress. The individual is unable to control the content of his/her obsession which, the individual feels is not the kind of thought that he/she would expect to have. However, the individual is able to recognize that the obsessions are a product of his/her own mind. .
The most common obsession are:- .
repeated thoughts about contamination (becoming contaminated by shaking hands) .
repeated doubts (wondering whether one has hurt someone in a traffic accident or having left the door unlocked) .