We all have various habits and rituals that make it easier for us to survive each day - such as making sure all the lights are off before going to bed or making sure the stove is turned off before leaving the house. However for some, these rituals are much more than just something reminders. They become persistent thoughts and habits. These upsetting thoughts become obsessions, and the actions they lead to become compulsions used to control the anxiety produced by certain thoughts.

The rituals used to control these anxious and upsetting thoughts can sometimes end up controlling the person affected. For example, if fear of intruders becomes an obsession for a person, this person may lock and relock their doors repeatedly, before finally going to bed.

Sometimes the control is so strong that normal life activities become severely limited or deprived because of compulsive actions. Common obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) issues are obsessions with germs, dirt, counting, checking things, and touching things especially in a particular order. OCD problems can occur around any item or thought. It's the anxiety or fear of something happening that promotes the compulsive behavior.

Most adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder realize their actions are senseless but even so, they are unable to eliminate them. However some may not realize their behavior is unusual. If you feel you may be having problems with obsessive-compulsive disorder, help is available. The first step is to admit there may be a problem and visit your doctor.

Treatment may involve medications or counseling and includes learning to face the situation that is causing the anxiety. Learning to work through this situation can help you become less sensitive to your anxiety and thus reduce or eliminate your compulsive behavior.

So, what steps can you take to help manage and eliminate OCD? Keep a journal of any symptom that you may encounter. For instance, when you find yourself compulsively acting in a way you know doesn't make sense, make a note in a journal. Or when you experience anxiety and find yourself reacting to it, make another note - do you recall what triggered the anxiety?

Once a course of treatment has been prescribed for you, keep another journal in which you describe the results. Have the symptoms improved? Are they worse? Do you still feel the compulsion to take certain actions? How about the anxiety? How often does it occur, and how intense is it?

If you are taking medication, keep a record of what you take and when. Is it helping the symptoms? Are there any side effects? Keep track of when side effects occur and how severe they are. Having this information handy will help your doctor prescribe the treatment that best addresses your overall health.

Setting up journals like the ones described here is easy to do. You can use a paper worksheet, a computer word processing program, or even a spreadsheet program like Excel.

You owe it to yourself to take an active role in managing your own health. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be very disruptive to your life. However with proper management, it can be controlled and even eliminated. You need to use every tool at your disposal to make sure you get the best results possible.