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Posts Tagged ‘psychological counseling’

Understanding obsessions and compulsions

Posted in daily writings and musings of the psychologist, tagged , , , on September 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 Obsessions take place involuntary. These are apparently uncontrollable thoughts, images, or impulses that take place over and over again in the mind of the person having such obsessions. The individual does not want to have such thoughts but he or she can’t stop them. Unfortunately, these obsessive thoughts cause disturbance and distraction from the normal routine works and the daily living of the individual.

Compulsions are such repeatedly performed behaviors or rituals that he or she feels compelled to act out.  Such compulsions are performed in an attempt to take care of the obsessive thoughts and the performer will take to such tasks because he or she wants such obsessions to  go away. For example, if someone is afraid of contamination and infection, he or she might develop obsession for cleaning everything and or not touching anything with bare hands and or may act out repeatedly washing and cleaning hands.  The counseling and the guidance may provide temporary relief but it never lasts. The obsessive thoughts may come back stronger. Such compulsive behaviors end up causing anxiety themselves as the compulsive acts become more compulsive, demanding and time-consuming.

People afflicted with   obsessive-compulsive disorder may  fall into one of the following categories:

  •   Washers : they are afraid of contamination. They usually have cleaning or  hand-washing compulsions.
  • Checkers : they repeatedly check things (oven turned off, door locked, etc.) that they associate mentally  with  some kind of harm or danger to them or to their dearones .
  • Doubters and sinners : their sense of perfection  make them  scared of many things. They believe and are afraid   that if everything isn’t perfect ,something terrible will happen or they will be punished.
  • Counters and arrangers. They  are obsessed with, arrangement, perfect  order and symmetry. They become  superstitious about  numbers, colors,  arrangements, objects etc. .
  • Hoarders   : they fear that something bad will happen if they throw or waste  anything away. They feel compelled to  hoard things that they don’t need or  do not use.

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What is the right time for a Couple to Seek Pre-Marital Counseling?

Posted in daily writings and musings of the psychologist, tagged , , , , , , on June 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 Counseling should obviously be sought when the individual have selected a companion and the decisions to get married by both the individuals have been finalized, so that the benefits can be accrued by both the partners in their future married life.   The psychologists recommend seeking counseling:

  • When both the partners are very young and have never been married. ( of course both have   to take decision to get  married only at the legal marriage age allowed by the law of the land )
  • When the commitment for marriage cannot be taken with an open mind and the decision leads to fears and phobia in the individual’s mind.
  •  When the decision involves many issues related to   religion, culture, family ,  economic, social background, income, , parenting, household responsibility, work, job, career ambitions,  physical intimacy, sex, companionship, privacy, loss of independence etc.
  • When any of the near relatives, parents, siblings, have been through a bad marriage in the family.
  • When either or both partners have had a failed marriage before and have been through a trauma of legal divorce.
  • When the family pressures conflict with personal reasons and attitude.
  •   When the individual have been a victim of childhood abuse or domestic violence.
  • When individual has other reasons that could create conflicting situations with either of the spouse or other near and dear ones.

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