Do you get sad, angry, or hopeless due to unwanted or intrusive thoughts, images, or impulses many times a day? Sometimes the feelings become so overwhelming that you break down and cry for hours?
If it sounds familiar to you, then trust me, you are not the only one experiencing the drastic mood swings – the roller coaster of emotion. Have you heard of how OCD and mood swings are related?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, aka OCD, is a mental health condition incorporating obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. With OCD, persistent and recurrent impulses, intrusive thoughts, and unwanted images dramatically affect drastic mood swings.
Here, in the article, we will ferret out how OCD and mood swings are related.
What Is OCD?
What do you do when you feel hopeless, drastically distressed, and broken down? Do you lash your anger out on others or cry in a secluded corner of your room, isolated from the whole world?
Now imagine you are feeling the fluctuation of emotion many times, almost every day? Undoubtedly, a helpless and unbearable situation. It’s OCD.
The anxiety disorder OCD causes extreme discomfort, distress, and disruption to a sufferer’s daily life. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, in the United States, OCD affects over 2 million adults every year.
A person having OCD usually encounters-
- Intrusive thoughts
- Obsession
- Compulsion
- Obsession without compulsion
- Constant checking
- Fear of contamination
- Hoarding
For example, an OCD sufferer having intrusive thoughts encounters disturbing or horrific images and thoughts that may or may not occur in their lives. On the other hand, an OCD individual with a fear of contamination is obsessed with cleanliness, likely to take a bath and wash their hands many times a day.
Just imagine you or your close one obsessed with ideas and thoughts that aren’t going away even after trying thousands of times, hoarding for items for years, constantly after cleaning every inch of the house? Life is a distressful tragedy.
Now assume about OCD and excessive mood swings together playing over your life? Your life will become the worst nightmare.
What Causes OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD – many consider a condition where people show extreme cleanliness or organization. However, OCD is not just super cleanliness; instead, it’s a super life-distressing condition involving several signs and symptoms.
What causes OCD is still to be comprehended. However, medical professionals believe there is a genetic element to this disorder. Besides, some research has shown that this disorder runs in families.
On the other hand, many consider OCD a profound after-effect of depression for lack of protein synthesis by your stomach. Several life factors can cause your OCD, too – personal crisis, abuse, events that affected you negatively, childhood trauma, death of a loved one, etc.
OCD starts small incorporating obsession, compulsion, or both; it doesn’t always occur all at once. Interestingly, you won’t even notice that you have any symptoms – for you, they would be normal behavior.
With depression and anxiety, another close connection of OCD is mood swings, especially bipolar disorder – a mental condition causing significant shifts in activity, energy, and mood.
Call Hormone Replacement Therapy, LA, for a consultation if you have noticed any of the above signs in you or your loved ones. The expert doctors are happy to help you here with care, support, and dedication to present you with a new distress-free life.
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What Is Mood Swings?
What mood swings? Can OCD cause mood swings? Once my friend asked me this question, facing some issues incorporating OCD.
Mood swings are the abrupt changes in your emotion, almost dramatic. For example, now you are happy, smiling like the Cheshire cat; however, just after a while, you are full of fury, out bursting like fireworks.
Mood swings may occur due to various mental or medical conditions; OCD is one.
However, whatever the reason is, the dramatic and drastic shifts of emotions are undoubtedly a life-disrupting condition. It can affect every aspect of your personal, professional, and social life.
How OCD and Mood Swings Are Related?
Is it usual to have mood swings in OCD? Can OCD cause mood swings? The answer is yes.
Mood swings are drastic and dramatic shifts of your emotion due to several physical or psychological issues. However, OCD also causes mood swings; after all, OCD is a flawed coping mechanism dealing with unresolved emotional issues.
In short, with OCD, there comes a lack of control in your life, especially your emotion.
For example, you are all happy and normal one minute and suddenly get an obsessive or intrusive thought, setting off your OCD fear. Of course, it will change your mood. You will jump into the sea of distress, dread, and despair from your usual everyday mood.
Many having OCD also develop low self-esteem, guilt, or shame due to recurring impulsive thoughts. Automatically, it leads you to a depressed mood.
Research suggested that mood swings due to bipolar disorder are more likely to have OCD.
When you are overwhelmed by your obsession or compulsion, your mood automatically shifts. The frequency and intensity of intrusive thoughts or a strong compulsion urge often affect people severely, causing them to behave unusually.
They cry for hours, feel hopeless, stay in bed, avoid interaction with others, seek reassurance, show extreme anger, blame others, and so on.
Remember, OCD is an anxiety disorder, and fear is its foundation. Therefore, the fluctuating mood is more likely to lead you to anxiety, fear, and desperation due to unwanted thoughts, images, or impulses.
Symptoms of OCD Mood Swings
OCD and mood swings – when you suffer both, you are likely to show some signs and symptoms. If your mood swings result from bipolar disorder and are associated with OCD, your symptoms become severely life-affecting.
An OCD mod swings sufferer encounters the symptoms that include-
- Recurring unwanted ideas
- Fear of contamination and germs
- Aggressive and hostile ideas- especially about sex and religion
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Excessive tension
- Thinking’s of hurting your loved ones
- Fear of hurting yourself or someone you love
- Social problem
- Reassurance seeker
- Depressive and manic episodes
- Constant checking
- Excessive doubt
- Fear of making mistakes and embarrassment
- Extreme cleanliness
- Obsession for order, counting, and routine
- Collecting and hoarding
Managing OCD and Mood Swings
We know that OCD and mood swings are life-affecting. You display compulsive behavior; your friends and family notice that and often share it with you. Most of the time, you are aware of your compulsive behavior. However, the irony is you can not stop them.
Nevertheless, how to manage them?
The first thing you can do is sit together with your loved ones – your spouse, family, or close friend. Have a free and frank discussion about the behavior your consistently display. Make a list of them.
The next and wise step is to seek medical attention. Discuss the list of your displaying behavior with your doctor. Inform him about your thoughts, ideas, images, impulses, obsession, and compulsion.
Speak to your family; speak to your doctor without hesitation sharing every facet of your obsession, compulsion, and mood swings.
However, most importantly, admit and accept your thoughts first. It will make you learn to view your thoughts and ideas as nonthreatening eventually help you overcome feelings of distress.
Treatment of OCD Mood Swings
If you struggle with OCD and frequent mood swings, meet a qualified doctor or a mental health professional for assessment and treatment.
Your doctor may request a physical examination, blood tests, and a psychological evaluation. He may speak to your family and friends for further assessment.
When you struggle with OCD and extreme mood swings, doctors usually prescribe medication effective for both conditions. It may include antidepressants SSRI ( selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors).
These medications work by accelerating the serotonin levels in your brain to reach the required levels. However, it may take time as the absorption is slow. But, after a year, you can notice significant changes in the quality of your thoughts and behavior.
Your doctor may also suggest psychotherapy – cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) with your medication. They help manage your OCD and mood swings, elevating the quality of your life.
Take Away
Can OCD cause mood swings? How OCD and mood swings are related?
Many ask these questions encountering obsession and compulsion with extreme mood swings. OCD is an anxiety disorder that often leads to depression and frequent shifting of your mood. When the condition becomes uncontrollable, your logical thinking becomes numb, and your temper becomes a hurricane, it’s high time you seek medical attention.
Contact Hormone Replacement Therapy, LA, for professional guidance and support to manage your OCD and mood swings. Expert doctors provide personalized treatment with proper dedication, support, and care. Soon you will see the difference in you with logical thinking and improved mood that will surely restore the quality of your life.
