Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Intrusive thoughts that trigger anxiety, and actions with which you try to lower it.
How it shows up
The thought arrives uninvited and contradicts who you are — which is exactly why it is so tormenting. An action follows: checking, washing, repeating, seeking reassurance. The relief lasts a few minutes, then the loop starts again.
What we do with it in therapy
The key isn’t the content of the thought but breaking the loop — letting the anxiety come and pass without the ritual. That is unpleasant and therefore has to be gradual. In marked forms, specialist treatment makes sense.
See also
Impermanence
The awareness that time is limited — a source of anxiety and, at once, one of the strongest sorters of priorities.
Health anxiety
Persistent worry about your health, which examinations and results don't settle for long.
Post-traumatic growth
A change for the better that appears in some people after a severe experience — neither inevitable nor expected.
