Consultant:
Male, 31 years old, married, with one daughter.
I am a terminal obsessive-compulsive cancer, can I still be saved? The more important things that have been done are always uncontrollably confirmed several times. Hope to find ways to alleviate the fight against obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Psychological counselor Xu Wenjiao answered:
Xu Wenjiao
This is a well posed and very concise question.
The term "advanced obsessive-compulsive cancer" is interesting, what situation and to what extent can define oneself as "advanced obsessive-compulsive cancer", and the standard may be different for everyone.
Today we may first need to understand these concepts - obsessive behavior, obsessive personality, pathological compulsion.
1 Compulsive behavior (or "obsessive-compulsive phenomenon")
Having compulsive behavior, not necessarily obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Many people have had compulsive behaviors: for example, sometimes a song always rings in the head, a sentence always appears in the mind, an important thing is repeatedly thought or confirmed, after going out, always worry about whether things have fallen, whether the door has forgotten to lock, is the gas closed? ...... Behind the compulsive behavior is anxiety, and when the anxiety is strong, relevant actions are taken to alleviate it, such as going home for examination.
This kind of compulsion phenomenon, children, adolescents will also appear, for example, put some things in a fixed order, put in a fixed position; painting must be straight, a little crooked is very angry; the desktop is not neat, it is upset, can't stand it...
It's just that different people have different levels and durations of anxiety. It can be considered a normal phenomenon if it is mild and short-lasting, does not cause severe anxiety and affects normal social functioning.
For these situations, learn healthier ways to resolve your inner anxiety (e.g., anxiety caused by feelings of loss of control, uncertainty, insecurity, and impotence), and compulsive behavior will be reduced accordingly.
2 Obsessive-compulsive personality
People with obsessive personality tendencies show excessive pursuit of perfection, planning, excessive cleanliness, excessive attention to detail, rigid behavior, stubbornness, and fear of making mistakes from an early age (childhood or even early childhood).
Sometimes, these characteristics, such as the pursuit of perfection and the high standards of self-requirements, will have a certain positive help for their studies and work. So, we see a lot of successful people with certain obsessive traits.
However, some people with obsessive personality traits become stubborn, step-by-step, conformist, afraid of change, anxious, insecure, negative thinking, so they often be too careful and repetitive, excessive attention to details and procrastination, some people will appear under pressure similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, but after the pressure is relieved, these symptoms will disappear and reappear next time; there are also some people with obsessive-compulsive neurosis (referred to as "obsessive-compulsive disorder").
For this personality tendency, individual one-on-one long-distance psychological counseling and treatment can be carried out, and when anxiety is severe, psychological counseling can be combined with medication.
3 Obsessive-compulsive disorder (obsessive-compulsive neurosis)
This is the type of counseling that is often received in psychological counseling.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a group of neuroses with obsessive-compulsive thinking and compulsive behavior as the main clinical manifestations, which are characterized by the coexistence of conscious compulsion and counter-compulsion, and some meaningless, even against their own will, thoughts or impulses repeatedly invade the daily life of patients.
The fundamental difference between people with obsessive-compulsive disorder and ordinary obsessive-compulsive phenomena is that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder can cause self-torture due to obsessive-compulsive behaviors or obsessive-compulsive concepts, which can cause emotions such as severe anxiety.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety disorder are often concurrent, and anxiety disorder is related to genetic factors, personality characteristics, adverse events, stress factors, etc., especially with our personality characteristics, such as excessive pursuit of perfection, hesitation, caution, stubbornness, etc.
In addition, I would like to introduce a new direction in the study of mental illness in recent years - a generalized obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder.
Obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder is a family of diseases that overlaps to a certain extent and is a continuous spectrum of diseases with one end being compulsive and the other impulsive, and this type of disease has similar characteristics: recurring perceptions and/or behaviors, and symptoms that recur and are difficult to control.
These include: obsessive-compulsive disorder, somatic deformation disorder, depression, hypochondriasis, depersonalization, eating disorder, impulse control disorder (trichotillomania, pathological gambling, compulsive sex, compulsive shopping, Internet addiction), impulsive personality disorder (borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder) and so on.
These conditions are not easy to treat, and it is recommended to carry out professional long-term psychotherapy.
Finally, we return to the client's question, for what is "advanced obsessive-compulsive cancer", you may need to supplement the details of the relevant symptoms, targeted discussion and improvement.