Obsessions, Compulsions, and the Christian

Rainbow Line

* Eating * Panic * Sex * God, help me! * Washing * Anxiety * I don't look right * Confessions * Counting * Touching * Why am I like this? * Ordering * Cleaning * I'm late again! * Pornography * Contamination * Sin * I know I ran over someone with my car! * Fear * Lists * I don't feel right. *

Almost every Christian has struggled with distressing thoughts and behaviors at times. By applying spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, scriptures, and self-control, usually these problems come eventually under control. But despite fervently applying many excellent principles, there are some Christians who have no success in these areas. These are dedicated people who love God and the Church, but cannot understand why the methods which work so well for others seem to work only temporarily or even serve to make the problems worse. If you are one of these people, maybe you've heard others say things like, "Why can't you pull it together?" or "You don't have enough faith in God," or "Just cut it out." You recognize that your thoughts and/or behaviors seem crazy, but you can't stop. No one seems to understand how much misery this is causing you! Your obsessive thoughts and compulsive or repetitive behaviors may even be destroying your ability to live, work, and function in society.


Examples of Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior

green ball Jill had persistent fears about committing a sin. Terrified of God's wrath, she would spend hours in church, confessing to her pastor and trying to convince him that some thought or feeling she had was leading her straight to hell. At alter calls, she would come to the front every time, asking to be lead in the prayer of salvation again and again. Unable to accept God's love and forgiveness, she finally just gave up on church altogether. Her religious obsessions then turned to an overwhelming attention to detail, fueled by a fear of disaster. She had images of something terrible happening, and of it being all her fault. She lost her ability to drive because of fears that she might have an accident and injure a child. She lost her job because she spent hours checking and rechecking details; as a result she made no progress on her projects and was late all the time. Eventually, she fell into a deep depression, her life having degenerated into a series of fears and rituals, repeated over and over again.

Escape from the Manhole! Shel was a devoted Christian and family man. After the birth of his third child, he began to have pornographic obsessions. He received prayer from every pastor in his church, read his Bible for an hour every morning, and prayed that God was take the obsessions, but none of these helped. He soon found himself purchasing pornographic magazines. He participated in his church's deliverance ministry, but felt better only temporarily. He would sometimes buy several magazines and videos on a binge, then throw them all away. His obessions and compulsions were getting progressively worse and taking more time every day. He was terrified that he would lose his wife, children, and reputation. In desperation, he started seeing a Christian therapist and attending a twelve-step group for sex addicts. Finally, he started handcuffing himself to his bed at night because he was afraid that he would commit adultery with a prostitute while his family was asleep.

red ball Tracy was never moderate with food. As a teenager she used to pick carefully over her meat, trying to remove every ounce of fat. Her family joked that what she really needed was a microscope to make sure the job was complete. Yet she would have several bowls of ice cream for dessert after the meal. She knew that her behavior was irrational, yet she did not feel she could stop. She learned about nutrition in hopes of improving her condition, yet it was to no avail. Tracy became reclusive about her food, secretly eating high volumes of chocolate in shame. No matter how hard she tried to stop bingeing, all her resolve would vanish within days. She tried vomiting once using Syrup of Ipecac, but this grossed her out so much that she didn't do it again. In desperation she went to Overeaters' Anonymous. Tracy found immediate relief when she heard others' stories that were so similar to hers, yet after several meetings she realized that, like many others in the group, she wasn't getting any better.

Blue ball Jim was an honors student at a state university. He kept having repeated fears that he might be a homosexual. Although he had had several girlfriends, and had no attraction to men, he couldn't rid himself of this horrible fear. He began to visualize himself participating in sex acts with other men. These images were repulsive to him, and it took a tremendous amount of energy to fight them off day after day. He began to avoid other males. Soon he dropped out of school and cut off contact with his parents and friends. He would spend hours every day lying on the sofa, obsessing about gay sex and hating every minute of it. He was sure that God must be as disgusted with him as he was of himself.

orange ball Marta always had a deep fear that she would harm one of her twin toddler boys. For a long time she would force such thoughts out of her mind, but when her husband received a new knife set for Christmas, she started to panic. Soon, she would continually imagine herself stabbing her children with one of the knives. She loved her boys very much, and prayed that God would take away the thoughts. She didn't tell anyone what was going on inside her mind because she was sure that the Department of Social Services would find out and take the twins away if anyone knew. It got to the point where she couldn't even be in the same room with a butter knife or the obsessive thoughts would become unbearable.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Although the names have been changed, the stories are true. These symptoms are not caused by a lack of will power, lack of discipline, or sinfulness on the part of the afflicted person. These people all suffer from a brain disorder known as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that the disorder afflicts about two percent of the population, making it more prevalent than manic-depression, panic disorder, anorexia, or schizophrenia. OCD is classified as an anxiety disorder, thought to be mainly genetic, but influenced by environmental factors.

Here are some symptoms of OCD:

Most Common Obsessions
Common Compulsions
If you think you may have OCD, please see Checklist of Common OCD Symptoms for a more complete listing.

PET ScanOCD is caused by increased activity in certain parts of the brain -- the orbital frontal cortex and caudate nucleus. The orbital frontal cortex, located behind the eyebrows, is involved in the perception of fear and danger. The caudate nucleus, one of the brain's communication hubs, is involved in one's ability to start and stop different thoughts and activities. OCD may also involve abnormal functioning of the neurotransmitter seratonin in the brain.

Certain thoughts, often bizarre or repugnant, may seem to get "stuck" because of the improper functioning of the caudate nucleus. These stuck thoughts result in "obsessions." The person with OCD then practices a "compulsion" to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsession. Often, however, the afflicted individual feels weak or sinful for having succumbed to the compulsion. The anxiety builds again, causing more obsessions and the vicious cycle continues.

In the past it was believed that these obsessions were a result of childhood events or some traumatic experience. And while the specific manifestation of the disorder may indeed be related to the sufferer's life experiences or convictions, the presence of disorder itself is beyond the control of the individual. It cannot be over-emphasized that obsessions are not caused by "moral failure" or Freudian "secret desires." The obessions and compulsions mean nothing.

One of the hallmarks of OCD is the fact that the obsessions/compulsions cause considerable distress to the individual, but a subset of persons with OCD are caused no distress by their OC thoughts and behaviors.

Related Behaviors

People with OCD may also have trouble making decisions, fail to follow-through with tasks, procrastinate, work hard on projects but make no progress, make exhaustive lists, frequently be late, not pick up on subtle jokes or social cues, insist that things be "just so," fear being alone, abuse drugs or alcohol, appear to have learning disabilities, and be depressed. Parents, spouses, and friends of the person with OCD may be frustrated and stressed from dealing with the afflicted person's behaviors. Because of the wide variety of symptoms, OCD is frequently misdiagnosed. OCD may also be unidentified because people with the disorder recognize their thoughts and behaviors as senseless; thus, they learn to hide the manifestations of the disease from others.

People with OCD, or their relatives, may have the following disorders, which may be related:

Helping the Person With OCD

If you have OCD, you may have tried everything you can think of to get relief from your symptoms, including pastoral counseling or psychotherapy. Unfortunately, most therapists do not know how to treat OCD. Conventional "talk" or "insight" therapy will not help a person with OCD until the obsessions and/or compulsions are under control. Although there's no cure for OCD, the good news is that it is very treatable with a combination of medication and/or behavioral therapy. Behavioral therapy teaches the person how to deal with and successfully diminish obsessions.

Medications for OCD do not change the person and should not be feared. Medicines used for the treatment of OCD, such as Prozac, Luvox, and Zoloft, are called "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" or SSRI's; they work by slowing the reuptake of the neurotransmitter serotonin, thus making it more available to the receiving cell and prolonging its effect on the brain.

If you are a pastor, priest, or Christian counselor, you may have encountered individuals who fit the descriptions above. They may be good people who seem unable to take control of their own lives due to overwhelming fears and bizarre behaviors. The best thing you can do for such individuals is to refer them to an expert on OCD. Apart from Divine intervention, no amount of discipleship, insight, prayer, or seemingly appropriate scriptures will help.


More Resources

For clinical help or more info:

Home Resources Books Research links Y-BOCS OCD Screening Discussion Board Chat Stories About Robert

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Updated: 12/26/01