Real Event OCD
Understanding Real Event OCD: When the Past Haunts the Present
While many people associate OCD with common symptoms like excessive cleanliness or organization, most OCD in my experience takes a more invisible form, where the compulsions are not obvious behaviors. One common type of OCD is called Real Event OCD. Real Event OCD focuses on distressing and intrusive thoughts about past events, whether they happened or details of what might have happened, and feared implications of past situations. This article aims to shed light on Real Event OCD, its symptoms, causes, and potential treatment options, to help foster understanding and support for those affected by this challenging condition.
Real Event OCD revolves around recurrent, intrusive thoughts or doubts about specific past events. These events could be personal experiences, mistakes, accidents, or moral transgressions that the individual finds distressing or morally unacceptable. The person with Real Event OCD becomes fixated on these events and feels a constant need to analyze and reassess them, leading to significant anxiety and impairment in their daily life.
Symptoms of Real Event OCD:
Intrusive thoughts: Individuals with Real Event OCD experience intrusive thoughts and memories related to the event. These thoughts often revolve around anxiety, guilt, shame, regret, or fear of being judged.
Rumination and analysis: The person engages in relentless rumination and analysis of the event, attempting to find certainty or reassurance. In my experience, the most common event folks ruminate about is related to a situation in which they fear they may have violated someone’s consent. However, folks may also ruminate around any other number of topics, such as a conversation they might have had or an item they may have posted on social media. Folks with Real Event OCD might question their intentions, actions, details, or the consequences of the event repeatedly, seeking to alleviate their anxiety.
Emotional distress: Real Event OCD often causes significant emotional distress, leading to feelings of anxiety, depression, or hopelessness. The person may feel overwhelmed by their thoughts and struggle to find relief.
Avoidance behaviors: In an attempt to manage their distress, individuals with Real Event OCD may avoid triggers associated with the event, such as specific people, places, or activities. They might limit their interactions with others in their lives for fears that they are being duplicitous in regards to this event. They may avoid substances for fear of experiencing another event that they can’t perfectly recall. Avoidance behaviors can limit their daily functioning and contribute to social isolation.
Compulsive behaviors: Real Event OCD can also manifest in compulsive behaviors, such as seeking reassurance from others, confessing or apologizing repeatedly, or performing mental or physical rituals to neutralize the anxiety associated with the event.
Challenges of Real Event OCD:
The reason folks struggle with OCD is often because they struggle to accept that there is a situation in their lives that they truly cannot be certain about the details or implications around. In OCD treatment, we call this the “kernel of truth.” It is the concept that the person with OCD finds it so hard to let go of revisiting this memory because there is an element of truth to the fact that they can’t recall or understand potentially significant elements of this situation.
Treatment for Real Event OCD
The truth is, the “kernel of truth” exists for every OCD theme and in fact every fear! No matter what the fear is, there will always be evidence to justify it being accurate. However, when we have OCD, we can find it very difficult to ascribe irrelevance to the kernel of truth. We might be tempted to say “there is some evidence my fear is correct: how can I let that go?!”. In OCD treatment, we learn how to ask not the question of “is my fear possible”, but rather “is it useful to keep ruminating.” Of course this is all easier said than done, so a combination of Exposure and Response Prevention and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy are used as evidence based treatments to help the client gain these skills. (For more information on treatment, click here).
Real Event OCD can have a significant impact on an individual's well-being, interfering with daily life and causing considerable distress. Fortunately, it is treatable in the right hands. To schedule a free consultation for your Real Event OCD, click here.