Heredity

[Phoenyx]

Hello OCD society.

Out of curiosity, I decided to gather some information about OCD and its hereditary possibility. It is stated by the International OCD Foundation that although OCD is considered hereditary, only 20-30% of close relatives might develop OCD.

I personally do not have a relative with OCD in my family but I am concerned about my daughter inheriting it from me. My questions are do you have relatives with OCD or you are the only one in your family and have any of your children inherit it from you?

[deValentin]

I can't prove it scientifically, but I suspect some of my OCD traits like neatness, scrupulosity, and thoughts-chewing are present in my children and some other members of my family like parents and grand-parents. But it's not consistent. There are no proper diagnoses.

[2boys2girls]

My husband has OCD, but not nearly as severely as what my son is experiencing currently. I also believe several of my husband’s family members have mild OCD.

[Phoenyx in reply to 2boys2girls]

That’s alarming. I pray my daughter doesn’t develop it later in life

[2boys2girls in reply to Phoenyx]

In my prayers. If she does, hopefully it will be mild and easy to manage.

[Phoenyx in reply to 2boys2girls]

Thank you so much

[FirstResponder23]

hello,

I too worried about this and made me more anxious when my wife and I started talking about having kids. However, my therapists broke down how slight the chance is. Because to me I thought it was large. She also informed me that if it does happen where my child will have ocd, I am well equipped to recognize it and have skills to help and know where to get help.

As far as your question, I don’t know anyone in my family that has actually been diagnosed with OCD. But my mom is convinced my grandmother had it. I’ve heard from other people as well that family members may not have been diagnosed, but previous family members probably had it. And that’s going back to baby boomer generation and before. And it makes sense because therapy and the acceptance of mental struggles has come a long way since those two time periods. So to me it would make sense that a lot of undiagnosed ocd went for the past two or three generations.

[Phoenyx in reply to FirstResponder23]

Thank you so much for your response. I can tell my aunt have some struggles with her mental health but honestly it could be anything. Same with your relatives... who doesn't have struggles nowadays :). My husband shares your therapist opinion. He said that at least my daughter will have a supportive and understanding mom.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Phoenyx]

Yes as far as having someone supportive that at least gave me some comfort to realize. Because I would never wish this on anyone with the times I’ve struggled. Also the fact that my therapist said if caught early in children it’s very treatable and easy later on for them.

[Phoenyx in reply to FirstResponder23]

I didn’t develop OCD during my childhood. I first had it when I was 21 and I wasn’t properly diagnosed until about 7 years ago. Maybe an early exposure therapy would had been more beneficial for me. Who knows. I only pray I wouldn’t have to support my daughter through this hell

[Coffeelove4444 in reply to FirstResponder23]

I had mostly Anxiety as a child and then around 15 years old the OCD started. Nobody talked about mental health in the 70s and 80s. It so great that today so much help is available. Does anyone think that OCD/Anxiety sufferers are born with an over active “fight or flight “ system. I have always overreacted to stressors.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Coffeelove4444]

I feel like I was born with ocd. I don’t think it’s something I picked up and learned. From as early as I can remember I had ocd thoughts and had that uncomfortable feeling when something wasn’t preformed in a certain way. It was just something I felt I needed to do because it would make the scary thing not come true. Over time I think that only made my ocd strong and now at the age of 30 I’m trying to rewire that fight or flight response through therapy. I have had success in the past but also times where ocd comes back like it is now. It is very strong, but I know with really hard work it is possible to live a life with ocd not being loud. Where I struggle is catching my mental rituals. I do pretty well with any of the tactile ones since I learned early on when I was 18 about ERP. It’s easier (for me at least) to see the results and gauge them when it’s a physical compulsion where as the mental ones play into my emotions and how I feel internally. Those are much harder for me to recognize, and to fight back when it’s such an automatic response I’ve had for so long.

[Coffeelove4444 in reply to FirstResponder23]

I also struggle with the mental compulsions. I agree it brings my mood down. We can stop thinking. I need to work on the thoughts with my therapist. My husband and I never had children but if it was now we may have done so. Much more understanding of the mental health issues today. Any tips for the mental compulsions?

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Coffeelove4444]

Hey,

Yes I do. As far as the mental compulsions, I found just learning about them is a big step to help me identify that, yes, these are compulsions. And we know with compulsions the less we do, while uncomfortable, the more our mind habituates to the thoughts. I’ll attach a helpful link below that I found where it talks about mental rituals and identifying them. For me, it was easier to recognize once I had some of them “hey, this is a ritual / compulsion” and I was able to no let the cycle keep looping. I hope this helps!

calocd.com/2022/07/26/menta...

[Coffeelove4444 in reply to FirstResponder23]

Hi, thank you very much for that link to the article. It is excellent!! Really helps to explain the mental compulsion side of OCD. Amazing how it is all OCD but different ways it effects each individual.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Coffeelove4444]

It’s very sneaky. For me it used to be a lot more compulsions I could see, and there were hidden mental ones. Only through therapy did I realize there are mental ones as well and they require the same attention as any other.

[Phoenyx in reply to Coffeelove4444]

I remember when I started therapy I really thought I didn’t have any compulsions. I was shocked to realize how many compulsions I had

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Phoenyx]

Me as well. I would work through some hiccups, but for some reason I found myself getting stuck. I learned about all the mental compulsions I was doing and how filled my everyday thought process was with them. Only then was I able to start healing more. I am still working through them since I only learned about mental compulsions in the last year or so. But already I can tell by targeting them and recognizing them my ocd flare ups are shorter and I can work past them faster. It’s more so now just getting out of the feelings part which is also a big ritual I’m trying to break.

[Phoenyx in reply to FirstResponder23]

I'm so happy for you. I do only mental compulsions. I am in therapy too but haven't started actively going through exposure. How often do you have flare ups? Mine are every few years

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Phoenyx]

Mine has varied. I usually go a span of about a year and then tend to have flare ups. Although a lot of my flare ups over the last 10 or so years were due to the fact of poor medicine management. I would go really long periods of time (8 or 9 months) of feeling good and get lazy taking my Prozac. I would start by missing a day here and there. And then maybe an another two or three days. Then go on stretches of not exercising and drinking alcohol more. And then it would be what my therapist and I call a “perfect storm” where maybe there’s change in life like work, or big life events, holidays, and my ocd would flare up.

[Phoenyx in reply to FirstResponder23]

Now when I think about it, there has always been a reason for my flare ups too- stopping medications on several occasions, changing meds too. I still have hard time accepting I have a mental condition and sometimes I feel like I can do it without the medication.

[FirstResponder23 in reply to Phoenyx]

That was the first time that I had a flare up back in college. I was doing really well and not having any ocd (that at least was anxious about) and so I stopped taking my medicine thinking I was okay. I learned from that experience that I need to stay with the medicine because it helps me with me chemical levels. My psychiatrist put it very well for me. It’s no different then taking a medicine because you need it for your heart of blood sugar. There is an imbalance in my body and it just needs the extra medicine to help regulate and the proper balance.

After that, it was all my negligence moving forward where I became lazy. Maybe I didn’t take it one morning because I slept in late and then had to rush out the door and I forgot (which is okay, but not multiple times) or I didn’t take it because sometimes I would burp the medicine and it tasted awful, but as my wife made me realize, I’d much rather deal with a little reflux for a few moments then deal with a flare up that gets me for a month or two.

I’ve also learned that even being on my medicine I can have a flare up. I think I have yet to have a major one while on my medicine consistently, it’s been more when I’ve been inconsistent, but I know that when I am on my medicine it is a lot easier to not feel full panic mode and practice the skills I’ve learned a lot easier.

[Phoenyx in reply to FirstResponder23]

My therapist gave me the same example. I actually have a thyroid condition and have to be on hormones all my life. I don’t have issues with that but for some reason I have issues with my OCD medications. Go figure

[Coffeelove4444 in reply to FirstResponder23]

I will mention the feeling part of my compulsions to my therapist. I find I am always monitoring how I feel. I guess it is a ritual that is so automatic.

[Phoenyx in reply to Coffeelove4444]

It’s worth mentioning

[Zen108]

My mom has OCD. She was diagnosed in her 60s. I didn't know about it until I was diagnosed in my 40s.

[Phoenyx in reply to Zen108]

May I ask if you are a first child?

[Zen108 in reply to Phoenyx]

First and only. You?

[Phoenyx in reply to Zen108]

Same.

[IStillHaveHope]

I'd say it's rampant in my family. My grandmother is a hoarder (OCD theme) and my mother has OCPD. Like you I am concerned about my children. My son is definitely an anxious little boy, but I haven't noticed anything like OCD. My daughter on the other hand doesn't have a care in the world

[Phoenyx in reply to IStillHaveHope]

I pray your children never develop OCD

[IStillHaveHope in reply to Phoenyx]

Thank you. Unfortunately I've had OCD about them getting OCD

[Phoenyx in reply to IStillHaveHope]

oh I bet. OCD is very creative and sneaky