In a gentle animation, the consistently insightful and thoughtful School of Life ascribes how best to help someone in the psychological grip of obsessive compulsive disorder. They further explain that OCD originates from a past trauma that is manifested through intrusive thoughts and repetitive actions, and simple soothing logic is not helpful to the person feeling these things.
Pure OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is an unfortunate state of mind, which a surprising number of us may suffer from, where certain deeply distressing, intrusive and shocking thoughts refuse to leave us alone. The suggested solution doesn’t target the thoughts themselves, but rather their underlying cause: shame and self-contempt.
They suggest that assistance comes instead from an investigative point of view.
We need to travel back to the source of dread and drain it properly. The world will only feel like a safe place once the unfortunate sufferer remembers their original injury, localises it and separates it off from modern-day anxieties.
