Mothers who present with postpartum anxiety or depression may have obsessions and
compulsions. It is important to specifically screen for these symptoms because some mothers may be reluctant to discuss the content of their thoughts or behaviors.
When we zoom out from the individual to other categories (like organisations/institutions or even social class), we start seeing the world through the prism of
compulsions that lie beyond the conscious goodwill or mal-intent of an individual.
There are also many types of
compulsions. "It is common for people to carry out a
compulsion to try and reduce the anxiety caused by an obsession," says Keira.
One common type of behavior therapy is exposure therapy in which patients are exposed to situations that trigger their OCD but aren't allowed to act on their
compulsions.
Life Under
Compulsion: Ten Ways to Destroy the Humanity of Your Child is a more ambitious book, vaster in scope.
Her cleaning
compulsions left her hands cracked and raw resulting in constant pain.
Common
compulsions include excessive washing and cleaning, checking, repeatedly touching, counting, arranging and ordering, hoarding, ritualistic behaviours that lessen the chances of provoking an obsession (e.g.
Clearly the
compulsions of coalition politics are not only hindering effective price control but even paralyzing the very function of governance.
McConnel describes how he gave the
compulsions an identity of their own, personifying them in a number of changing ways over his lifetime - and they appear almost like a character in his own biography.
Novels such as Native Son, The Outsider, and Savage Holiday as well as stories such as "The Man Who Killed A Shadow," Down by the Riverside," and "The Man Who Lived Underground" focus on central characters forced into criminal behavior either by a repressive society or the macabre
compulsions of their innermost nature.
OBSESSIVE Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder where sufferers have recurring or repeated obsessions and/or
compulsions.
These rituals are actually
compulsions, repetitive behaviors that are responses to obsessions.