Understanding Compulsions

Compulsions are behaviours or mental acts that someone feels driven to perform, often in response to an obsession, intrusive thought or feeling of uncertainty.

They are usually carried out in an attempt to reduce anxiety, gain reassurance, make something feel “right” or prevent a feared outcome from happening.

Compulsions aren’t always obvious to other people. While some involve visible actions such as checking or washing, others happen entirely inside someone’s mind.

Different Types Of Compulsions

  • Checking

    Repeatedly checking doors, appliances, messages, belongings or past actions to make sure something is safe or hasn’t gone wrong.

  • Cleaning & Washing

    Repeatedly washing yourself, clothing or objects because of contamination fears or feelings of discomfort.

  • Repeating

    Repeating actions, words or routines a certain number of times or until they feel “right”.

  • Reassurance Seeking

    Repeatedly asking other people whether something is okay, whether you’ve done something wrong or whether a feared situation is likely to happen.

  • Mental Rituals

    Reviewing memories, counting, repeating phrases internally, analysing thoughts or trying to mentally “undo” an unwanted thought.

  • Avoidance

    Avoiding situations, people, places or objects that might trigger intrusive thoughts or uncertainty can also become part of the OCD cycle.

Temporary Relief Can Strengthen The Cycle

Performing a compulsion can sometimes reduce anxiety temporarily.

For example, someone might worry that they left a door unlocked. Checking it may provide relief, but when doubt returns, they may feel the need to check again.

Because the compulsion temporarily reduces distress, the person can begin to rely on it whenever uncertainty appears.

Over time, this can strengthen the OCD cycle and make it increasingly difficult to resist the urge to perform the compulsion.

Not Every Compulsion Can Be Seen

Mental compulsions can be particularly difficult to recognise because they happen internally.

Someone might repeatedly analyse whether an intrusive thought means something, replay a conversation to make sure they didn’t say anything wrong, review a memory to gain certainty or silently repeat particular words.

From the outside, the person may appear to be doing nothing at all while internally spending significant amounts of time trying to resolve uncertainty.

Understanding hidden compulsions is important because OCD shouldn’t be judged solely by behaviours other people can see.

The Reassurance Trap

Supporting someone with OCD can be difficult because providing reassurance often feels like the kindest response.

However, when someone repeatedly needs certainty about the same fear, reassurance can sometimes become part of the compulsive cycle. Relief may last briefly before another doubt appears and reassurance is needed again.

This doesn’t mean somebody should simply be refused reassurance without support. Learning how to respond to OCD is something that may be explored as part of appropriate professional treatment.

Support & Treatment

Reducing compulsions can be difficult because it may initially mean experiencing uncertainty or anxiety without using the usual behaviour to obtain relief.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) incorporating Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is an established treatment for OCD. ERP involves carefully facing triggers while learning to resist compulsive responses, usually through a structured approach appropriate to the individual.

If OCD is significantly affecting everyday life, a GP or qualified mental health professional can help with accessing appropriate assessment and treatment.

Sen-tastic can provide information, community and shared understanding, but our resources aren’t a substitute for professional mental health care.

Continue Exploring OCD

Understanding The Cycle Is An Important Step

Compulsions can be exhausting and difficult to explain to other people. Sen-tastic aims to make conversations about OCD easier, reduce shame and help people feel less alone in what they’re experiencing.

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