OCD/Orthorexia: Unhealthy Obsessions

Hello, Beautiful World!

I CANNOT believe it's already Week 10!!!! Like where has the time gone?!?!?!?! I swear, just yesterday I was starting to write my first post, thinking it'll be such a long time before I'm on Week 10... and here we are, friends 😒.  Thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful support and love you've shown me on my blogging journey. To be completely honest, I think I'll still continue posting here occasionally under a new tab (I'll call it: Looking into the Future). What do you guys think?

Getting to the final disorder covered here on my blog, OCD/orthorexia, we'll begin with some general statistics and facts:

• OCD*:
• In the US, ~1 in 40 adults (~2.3% of the total population) and ~1 in 100 children are estimated to have OCD
• The following disorders may coexist with OCD: bipolar disorders, depression, ADHD, eating disorders, ASD, and TS. 

• Orthorexia**: 'an obsession with eating only healthy or "pure" foods'
• Term coined in 1996
• Sorry, I couldn't find many more statistics haha so that'll have to do :D

What surprised me about these statistics was how many other disorders OCD could coexist with!

Before meeting with Dr. Anné, I conducted a survey and looked through everyday media relevant to OCD/orthorexia. Starting off the meeting by asking her what misconceptions clients ​may have regarding orthorexia, I learned that clients think orthorexia is an eating disorder (which is wrong- it is a form of OCD). Orthorexia is not a formal diagnosis, nor is it under OCD. Clinically, however, it is seen through the lens of rigid OCD, not eating disorders (because eating disorders are superficially about body image and calories, while orthorexia is more about being clean, pure, and healthy). For OCD, clients commonly think that OCD is only about being super orderly and clean. Instead, these are characteristics of OCPD (obsessive compulsive personality disorder), while avoiding germs and washing your hands frequently are signs of OCD. 

From here, Dr. Anné and I discussed more about OCD/orthorexia using the survey questions as a basis:

Misconceptions:

• Myth: Orthorexia is a sort of fad; suddenly people are focused on eating raw, organic, gluten-free, non-processed, and non-GMO foods. 
• Truth: Well, both eating disorders and orthorexia are OCD-based. Eating disorders can start as a diet, and then manifest into an eating disorder. The same applies to orthorexia: it can start with simply eating 'organic food,' but then become a problem.
• Myth: It is obvious when someone has OCD.
• Truth: It isn't unless you live with that person. It's more of an internal process than an external. 
• Myth: People with OCD are weak-willed and need to relax.
• Truth: Both people with OCD and OCPD wish they can relax, but cannot do so. With OCPD, a person is perfectionistic, driven, and organized to the point where it is stressful if anything isn't so. With OCD, one cannot relax because of all of the anxiety that fills them. 
• Myth: OCD is a personality quirk.
• Truth: It is rather a very genetic and biological/biochemistry-based disorder. It tends to run in families. For the most part, one is born towards that tendency, rather than being created out of the blue. There is also a certain component of chronic stress, which can trigger the OCD more frequently.
• Myth: All neat freaks have OCD.
• Truth: No, but many might (however, it is more OCPD than OCD). 
• Myth: OCD isn't treatable and can be diagnosed through blood tests. 
• Truth: OCD is very treatable because it is biological/has a physical cause. Hence, it is highly responsive to medication. There is no blood test, but rather an assessment based upon thought-processes and behaviors and genetic history. 

Some things that can be the truth or a myth, depending upon the case: 

• It's not that people with OCD LOVE keeping things neat and organized, but rather they need to. It becomes stressful for them not to go through with a behavior, only feeling calm and peaceful after completing so. 
• Cleanliness and being a 'germaphobe' are both ways, out of many, that OCD can manifest itself. However, what really defines OCD is a fear-driven anxiety. There is a compulsive behavior that gives way to anxious thoughts, and only going through with the behavior undoes the thought. For example: if I say goodbye to my family three times, they won't get into a car accident. It's out of fear-driven compulsion that one does this (so that the family does not get into a car accident). If one doesn't say goodbye three times, there will be an intrusive thought that something bad will happen to the family that will only go away when the behavior is complete.

From here, we discussed the portrayal of OCD/orthorexia in the media:

• Rain Man:
• He had autism, not OCD. 

• What about Bob?:
• He had Dependent-Personality Disorder, not OCD. 

• Snow White (Snow Whiter's obsession with cleanliness in the dwarves home):
• That's a bit of a stretch. It's more of her feministic character being a housecleaner for the dwarves than OCD. 

So where do all of these myths and misconceptions surround OCD and orthorexia come from? It's all of the misunderstanding and misinformation that is spread about them. But also, it's that these are very complicated disorders (within the realm of disorders, there is OCD versus OCPD versus orthorexia, which may be a part of OCD, but isn't an actual diagnosis). It get's confusing, you know? There are so many nuances that it's hard to understand and tease apart what is what. Even I was getting confused at times even just learning about this all. 

Anyways, I'm going to end this post a little differently, as it is my last weekly post about disorders. I just really want to genuinely thank everyone that made this project happen. From Dr. Anné for presenting me the opportunity for the internship, to the whole A New Beginning team for making their office feel like a second home and spending time with me on my project, to Mr. Chadwick for the idea behind the project, and to everyone who reads this blog and gives it purpose! I love each and every one of you!!!! This project would have been nothing had I not had such a wonderful audience reading my posts with silly gifs. Thank you for joining me through this momentous journey! Until next time....

Lots of love 💗,

--Saleena 

Sources:

* Facts about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://beyondocd.org/ocd-facts. 

**Orthorexia Nervosa (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2017, from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa.