Depression and OCD

By Alex Groberman, Mon, July 18, 2011

As is often the case, two completely separate mental conditions in depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can very easily become intertwined.

In order to understand how depression can seep into the mind of someone struggling with OCD, it is first important to identify what OCD is and what it is comprised of. An incurable (though very treatable) anxiety disorder, characterized by a sufferer experiencing an assortment of obsessions and compulsions that they feel powerless to stop, OCD can be broken up into four separate subgroups. These categories are: obsessions dealing with cleanliness and dirt, obsessions dealing with hoarding, obsessions dealing with orders and arrangement and obsessions dealing with religion and sex.

Understandably, the impromptu nature of obsessions and compulsions and the horrific image that sometimes pop into the minds of sufferers leave them powerless, dazed and often depressed in response. People who constantly find themselves worrying about and germs, cleanliness, order and/or safety can literally feel their lives and free will being taken from them, and in response, can experience varying levels of sadness, mood shifting or even serious bouts of depression.

Luckily, because of the prevalence of this disorder, treatment options are available. Recent estimates have as many as two to three million adults battling with OCD on a yearly basis, and anywhere from one to two percent of Americans coming down with the disorder. As a result, countless medicinal and psychotherapeutic options have been developed for the sole purpose of alleviating pressure from sufferers.

In order to rid one’s self of OCD and the resulting depression that may occur, sufferers should contact their local mental health specialist, and find out about treatment options (and, of course, potential accompanying side-effects) available to them.

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