Have You Ever Wondered What Anxiety Feels Like? Part 1 - OCD
Excessive Handwashing is a sign of obsessive-compulsive behavior resulting from anxiety
Apparently, many people have. Based on my research about how often this question is searched online, inquiring minds want to know. Therefore, this brief article is the start of a series of answers to this question.
There are several recognized types of anxiety, and each has behavioral subsets that may look like other issues. Here in Part 1 of this series, we take a look at the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) of Handwashing.
Compulsive handwashing reduces anxiety in the person with this type of obsession by allowing them to get clean enough to feel “just right”.
In order to control emotions that are too overwhelming to manage, this person may spend an hour or more each day washing hands till they can become raw, cracked, and bleeding.
In my teens, I noticed my good friend Bree washed her hands obsessively and had the telltale cracks and redness associated with this disorder. At the time, I only observed and wondered, as I had no understanding of why she felt compelled to wash so often.
The sensation of ritual washing is both deeply satisfying and shame-based, as this person is unable to control the need to wash repeatedly. In the anxious handwasher’s mind, getting clean is anxiety-reducing, while at the same time often recognized as a trigger to more fear.
Conventional wisdom - in the US in particular - would have us believe that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and medications are the two best avenues for relief of anxiety.
Better than those options for obsessive-compulsive handwashing is Exposure and Response Therapy (ERP), which involves gradually facing a fear while resisting the compulsion to wash.
Unfortunately, both negate the extremely powerful effects of energy-based, Eastern traditional practices like the acupressure and ventral vagus nerve stimulation techniques incorporated in EFT Tapping and the Japanese Practice of Jin Shin Jyutsu.
Both of these methods have been instrumental in my own recovery from debilitating anxiety- including obsessive thinking and pattern recognition - and are main reasons that I do not require medication.
Have you ever wondered if what you were feeling is anxiety?
Maybe masked as a common emotion or behavior like anger, mistrust, or hyper-independence?
Would you please let me know what you might like to discuss further?
Your confidentiality is guaranteed!
(Photo credit: Image by Donna Hovey from Pixabay)
