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KidsHealth > Teens > Your Mind > Mental Health > Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

You probably have weeks when you feel like you do the same thing day after day. You wake up, go to school, go to sports practice, go to your part-time job, go home, eat dinner, do homework, and go to bed. Maybe it feels like an endless cycle sometimes, but then an upcoming concert or visit to a college campus looms on the horizon and you start to enjoy the break in your routine.

Some teens, though, find that their lives are a series of endless routines, filled with behaviors they feel compelled to repeat again and again. For teens who experience obsessive-compulsive disorder, it's not boredom that causes that repetitive feeling, but fears and anxieties they can't control.

What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?
Every kid, teen, and adult has experienced anxiety, fear, or worry at some time - it's completely normal to worry about school, your friends, what people think of you, your appearance, and tons of other stuff. But some teens and kids - about 1 million in the United States - experience obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), an anxiety disorder that causes the brain to get stuck on a thought or urge or to behave in a repetitive way. Teens with OCD feel they don't have control over their thoughts or fears and it may cause them to think about them repeatedly. These thoughts or behaviors that need to be repeated may interfere with a teen's life and may cause the teen to feel extremely embarrassed or ashamed.

Teens with OCD often experience two parts of the disorder: obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are thoughts, impulses, or images that occur repeatedly, even though the person with OCD doesn't want them to and finds them extremely disturbing. Along with the obsessions, a person with OCD often experiences feelings of fear or anxiety. Teens with OCD try to make their obsessions go away by performing compulsions, which are behaviors or rituals. These behaviors, when repeated the "right" number of times or when performed the "right" way, neutralize or diminish the anxiety. For example, a teen with OCD who has a fear that he forgot to lock the door may try to make the obsession go away by repeatedly checking to see if the door was locked.


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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? continued
What Do Doctors Do?
Dealing With OCD


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