An Engineering Student age 22, called us up one morning. To quote him, he approached us with a doubt whether the Helpline will be able to provide a solution to his problem. During the call he did not want to disclose his identity and neither did I insist on the same. Without knowing much of his demographic details, we started to converse.
He had been consulting a psychiatrist and a therapist for the last 3 years. The dosage was at the peak as per his clinician and could not be increased further. He fights with everyone he meets, at all the places if at all he goes out, He had a fight with his Therapist, he did not want to talk to her anymore. He remains angry, most of the time and also avoids interaction with others to avoid conflict. The repetitive thoughts are followed by uncontrollable anger and turn into a compulsive action i.e. abusing others.
A person suffering from OCD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, is genuinely obsessed with a thought which has to be converted into some action. Unless and until the patient reacts, he does not feel the closure. Rather even after the closure, if the same thought or any other thought pops up in the mind, the patient is just not able to leave it, again h/she has to complete the thought process with a compulsive action. As per him, he does not even get out of the bed, does not eat well, and does not interact with people, If the counselors try to help him on the phone, he abuses them.
Out Psychiatrist suggested him therapies like- Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and Relaxation Therapy as well. He needs face-to-face counseling as well as psychotherapy along with some regular exercise and psychiatric medication. The patient’s family and friends have a very important role to play here. In these cases, the patients do have full insight and know that there is something wrong that needs serious attention, but face the blockage in mind which needs to be cleared with the help of all those who call in the circle of a multidisciplinary team, with family and lastly with the willingness of the patient.
