Understanding PTSD

PTSD may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed trauma.

The experience of obsessions causes considerable distress and anxiety for a person.

It’s important to understand that the obsessions in OCD are not just worries about real-life problems.

Clean shirts ordered on a bed

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Yet people with OCD cannot suppress or ignore their obsessions.

Like obsessions, a person with OCD knows that these compulsions are illogical, which causes further distress.

Psychotherapy is often used to treat both OCD and PTSD.

If you have PTSD and/or OCD, it’s very important to seek treatment from a mental health professional.

For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.

Dykshoorn KL.Trauma-related obsessivecompulsive disorder: a review.Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine.

Examination of overlapping OCD and PTSD symptom clusters.Journal of Anxiety Disorders.

2022;85:102511. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102511

National Institute of Mental Health.Post-traumatic stress disorder.

American Psychiatric Association (APA).Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

5th ed, text revision.

Washington, D.C.; 2022.

National Institute of Mental Health.Obsessive compulsive disorder.