OCD having a connection to trauma?

[88cev88]

So I experienced early childhood trauma and ended up getting diagnosed with OCD in the 5th grade. Later in high school I received a PTSD diagnosis. It seems the OCD delayed the PTSD. How do the two diagnoses interact in terms of healing trauma? If anyone has experience with this what worked for you?

[Lauragbr]

I can relate. I had childhood trauma as well. My mother got sick when I was 12 and one day when my brother and I came home from school my aunts were at our house with my dad who told us my mom had to go to the hospital. We didn’t see her again for almost a year. She had diabetes and had her leg amputated but no one told us for almost a year. Back then adults thought it was best to not tell kids everything, but our imaginations are worse. Anyway, my first OCD symptoms started when I was 15. No one knew what was wrong with me because it was 1970. Long story short, when I got older and I got help I was first diagnosed with PTSD. Eventually I told my psychiatrist about the awful intrusive thoughts I was having and the anxiety and she realized I had OCD. So this is probably more than you wanted to know, but maybe you can relate. I’m turning 70 next month. My OCD waxes and wanes depending on life events. However, since I got real help almost 20 years ago I’ve only had 2 relapses. There is help and there is hope.

[RLSSCARER]

We all have the power to heal

Essential oils like frankincense, Holly Basil, Parsley, thyme, food grade flavours can help

Tulsi Moringa will improve the ocd behaviour

[Natureloverpeace in reply to RLSSCARER]

People can and do recover from OCD but what you’re suggesting will help, won’t. OCD isn’t a behavior problem and the things in this list don’t treat OCD. People have tried to use essential oils for calming purposes in general but that’s another discussion. People with unmanaged OCD do mental and/or physical compulsions to negate distressful feelings associated with not finding absolute certainty in the areas of their lives that they value. Absolute certainty doesn’t exist but acceptance of uncertainty can as well as the realization that they are capable of handling distressful things that may come up even though it doesn’t feel like they can. The compulsions bring temporary relief from the distress but they reinforce the obsessions and make the OCD worse in the long-run. The person needs to see for themselves that they don’t have to do the compulsions that OCD demands them to do. Using essential oils for calming purposes may provide temporary relief but they would reinforce the obsessions and make the OCD worse in the long-run. They would serve the same purpose that compulsions do.

[Coffeelove4444 in reply to Natureloverpeace]

Very well said. I agree with you 100% . Each individual needs to find there own toolbox that works for them 👍

[Natureloverpeace]

One of my OCD themes was intermixed with PTSD. The majority of people with OCD have at least one other mental health condition. PTSD is a common co-morbidity with OCD. I have freedom from OCD and my PTSD is well-managed. As Lauragbr said, there is help and there is hope.

[Sallyskins]

I've often thought that my OCD could be related to childhood trauma. My father was a decent - and brilliant - man, at least when he was sober, but he was also a drunk with an explosive temper. One didn't know from one moment to the next if he would explode, or give you a slap around the head.

Additionally to that, I got badly bullied at primary school - at one point a gang of boys from my class would beat me up each recess or break. I can still remember acutely how I felt as they charged towards me in a group - I had to sit down to avoid them knocking me down, and then I would be kicked and punched until they had had enough and would charge off again. And that wasn't the only bullying I got at school.

I can relate my OCD to being constantly on tenterhooks, not knowing if I was going to be slapped, shouted at, beaten up or tormented.

Having said that, OCD doesn't happen to people who haven't had childhood trauma - and many who have had it don't get OCD. So I don't know if mine is related.

[Natureloverpeace in reply to Sallyskins]

You endured a lot as a kid, wow! Two people can experience the exact same trauma and one may end up with PTSD while the other one doesn’t. Many people with OCD have experienced childhood trauma but there are many with OCD who haven’t. As you’re already aware, childhood trauma can be associated with OCD but isn’t a cause itself.

[greenluna]

I can relate. OCD and PTSD love each other and mutually help each other spiral. It’s complicated but an OCD specialized therapist who is trauma informed can help. I saw two therapists for a bit. One that focused on OCD using ERP and one OCD-informed therapist that took me through a Cognitive Processing Therapy workbook for trauma. I learned a lot about how they were affecting each other just by trying to learn and apply the tools. When I concluded the CPT, I focused just on Inference-based CBT (I-CBT) with my OCD therapist and it changed my entire relationship with my thoughts. This therapist and I just started Flash therapy for trauma and I can say it’s also a missing piece I needed to help rewire my brain. These are all evidence-based and effective. It also helps if your therapist is able to guide you out of the spiraling thoughts as much as we want to keep going with the cycle. I truly hope you find the modalities that work for you. There is so much work and advocacy being done on this combination. Check out iocdf’s conference sessions as well. They educate on this dynamic.

[80_Zil_ian]

In my opinion, it is. All my biggest crises were connected to stressful moments that were not directly connected to any OCD symptoms, making me clearly understand that, at least in my case, OCD is a born-condition in my mind, but its severity is a consequence of these events and not the opposite.

Outside of these moments, along with medical treatment seasonally, my symptoms are mild and manageable.

The biggest example is that I have felt OCD thoughts (it started with religious OCD) since I was a kid, but I never cared much, nor told anyone for years. But in adult life, I went through a very stressful situation (a life and death one), and this triggered my biggest OCD crisis, which required treatment. Since them, I never got total remission, only long periods of relief.