How Scrupulosity OCD Turns Your Conscience Into a Compulsion

Someone double-checks a text message for the fifth time, not because they're unsure what it says, but because they're terrified it might have sounded rude. Someone else prays the same sentence over and over, convinced that if they don't get the wording exactly right, it doesn't count. They're not being extra careful or having an off week. What they're both describing is something a lot of people quietly live with for years before anyone puts a name to it.

Scrupulosity OCD is a subtype of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder built around religious or moral obsessions, the fear that you've sinned, offended a higher power, or secretly become a bad person. It's often mistaken for being unusually devout or unusually ethical, which is part of why it goes undiagnosed for so long. In this post, we'll look at what scrupulosity OCD actually involves, how thought-action fusion fuels it, why trying harder to be good can make it worse, and what treatment actually looks like.

How to Heal Childhood Trauma as an Adult

When you think of a child, you probably imagine a young person who is resilient and fast-moving. These traits may cause you to believe that situations do not leave a lasting impact on children’s emotional health; however, that is not the case. If left unsolved, your emotions that came from a traumatic experience as a child can live in your subconscious mind. This will continue to affect you until you detect, process, and solve it. In order to heal childhood trauma as an adult, you have to learn how to process painful emotions.

A healthy way to respond to childhood trauma occurs right after the trauma has taken place. When the trauma occurs, you recognize that it is an offense to yourself. Afterward, you would feel your emotions and acknowledge the fact that the offense does not dictate anything about you personally. In other words, you do not make a negative meaning out of what occurred. Generally, it is rare for people to react in this manner.

This process is not automatic. Certain emotions, like rage and unhappiness, are difficult to express. On top of that, some cultures may view this outpouring of emotions to be socially unacceptable. Therefore, this causes many people to suppress their emotions. For a kid, this process is even more burdensome. For instance, someone may comment on a child’s weight or a part of their body which can cause a long-lasting inner dialogue to occur in the kid’s head, creating body dysmorphia. While this can happen to adults as well, it may be easier for an adult to push aside outside commentary in comparison to a child.