Navigating OCD Tics: Coping Strategies for a Balanced Life

Navigating OCD tics: coping strategies for a balanced life that mirrors those without OCD tics. I can kind of relate with OCD tics.

I don’t have OCD, but I do suffer from tics partially because of anxiety and also I have Parkinson’s.

Although, right now, the tics are kind of bad because of a new medicine I’m on. I take artane for the movements.

But, I try not to let them bother me because then I would be OCD. I would be putting all my focus on them and it would just not be a good outcome. So, I take the artane when I really need it.

Different Types of OCD Tics

At length, some people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may also have a tic disorder. Tics can be motor or verbal, and can affect any part of the body:

Motor tics OCD

These can include sudden, brief, repetitive movements, such as:

Firstly, eye blinking
Eye widening
Nose movements
Grimacing
Additionally, jerking or banging the head
Clicking the fingers
Touching other people or things
Abdominal tensing
Lastly, certain postures

Verbal tics

These can include:

Firstly, sniffing
Throat-clearing
Small noises
Repeating syllables, words, or sentences
Grunting
Lastly, whistles

Examples of tics include:

firstly, blinking, wrinkling the nose or grimacing.
jerking or banging the head.
clicking the fingers.
fourthly, touching other people or things.
coughing, grunting or sniffing.
lastly, repeating a sound or phrase – in a small number of cases, this may be something obscene or offensive.

OCD and Tourette Syndrome

Navigating OCD tics: coping strategies for a balanced life is something to strive for. Comparatively, obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette syndrome (TS) are both common disorders that can affect children and adults and share many similarities:

Repetitive behaviors: Both disorders are characterized by repetitive behaviors that can be dangerous or taboo. OCD behaviors include compulsions, such as needing to touch, tap, or rub things, or performing actions repeatedly until feeling at peace. TS behaviors include tics, which can be motor or verbal, and can involve any part of the body.
Childhood or teenage onset: Meanwhile, both disorders often begin in childhood or adolescence. OCD behaviors can start as early as age four, but usually become noticeable around age seven or eight. TS usually starts between the ages of five and ten, but can also affect infants and adults.
Chronic course: Both disorders tend to have a chronic waxing and waning course.

Even more, up to 60% of people with TS have OCD symptoms, and 50% of children with OCD have had tics.

However, it can be difficult to distinguish between the symptoms of the two disorders, and even experts can have trouble telling complex tics apart from compulsions.

Family studies and genetic research suggest that the two disorders may be linked.

Treatments For OCD Tics

Furthermore, treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and tics can include therapy, medication, or a combination of both:

Behavioral therapies

These are often recommended as a first treatment for tics.

Henceforth, one type of behavioral therapy is habit reversal therapy, which teaches you to recognize the feeling before a tic, identify urges, and choose a new response.

For example, if a tic involves shrugging your shoulders, you might learn to stretch your arms until the urge passes.

Other behavioral strategies include contingency management, relaxation training, and self-monitoring.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

Navigating OCD tics: coping strategies for a balanced life can be helped with CBT. Therefore, this can include exposure-based therapy for OCD and comprehensive behavioral intervention (CBIT) for tics.

CBIT is a form of CBT that doesn’t use medication and can help decrease the severity of tic symptoms.

Medication for Tics and OCD

Generally, for OCD, serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are often used. For tics, certain antipsychotics, such as risperidone, aripiprazole, or sulpiride, may be prescribed.

Clomipramine – this is a tricyclic antidepressant. Therefore, you may be offered this if you try an SSRI but it doesn’t help.

Here are some strategies that may help with OCD tics:

Mindfulness

Practices like meditation and deep breathing can help with anxiety and self-awareness. Mindfulness can also help people accept their condition and live in the moment.

I practice meditation. It really calms the mind and the body if you do it right. Hence, I use the Silva Mind Control to relax my mind and also for manifestation. I just started it a couple of weeks ago so, I am just learning the technique.

Grounding techniques

These techniques help people focus on what’s going on around them instead of internal body sensations. For example, people can focus on sounds, sights, or engage in mental activities.

I used this when I had a job interview. Basically, during the interview, I started to have a severe panic attack. I focused on my 5 senses and within a few seconds I was brought back to earth again.

Luckily, I don’t think the supervisor saw it because he was standing in front of me.

Lifestyle changes

Also, regular exercise, healthy diet, and enough sleep can contribute to overall well-being and may help with tics.

I will be honest, I don’t follow any of these, especially getting enough sleep. It’s kind of hard for me to exercise with the Parkinson’s.

Basically, my diet sucks. Sometimes I go nights without sleep. I think it’s because of the movements.

Avoid stress

Navigating OCD tics: coping strategies for a balanced life by limiting stress. Overall, stress can make tics worse, so try to avoid stressful situations and find relaxing activities.

My way of avoiding stress (which I don’t recommend) is of avoiding people. It works, but it’s not the best way. Sometimes when I’m around people, my tics get worse.

Don’t focus on it

Try to forget about the tic if you know you have one. Therefore, I try to distract myself from it. That’s why I like making friendship braclets.

It’s relaxing and it especially distracts my hands (where some of the tics are). Another way I don’t focus on them is doing these posts.

Nonetheless, I enjoy doing them and it distracts me for hours. I’m focusing on the content I’m putting into each post and not how much my hands are shaking.

The movements in my hands aren’t real bad so I can still type. Although my memory isn’t as good as it once was, so, that’s not goodwith spelling.

Don’t draw attention

Avoid talking about the tic too much, and don’t tell someone off when it happens. Instead, reassure them that everything’s okay.

One day when I was driving home from work, I had tics really bad. They were so bad that a police officer noticed them from his car.

Therefore, he pulled along side of me and kept watching me probably wondering what the hell was wrong with me. Here I am trying to act normal…unsuccessfully.

He pulled me over and I’m trying to explain to him why I was making the movements. He finally did let me go because I was so close to home.

Sum It All Up

There are tics that are caused by a variety of reasons such as OCD, Tourettes and anxiety. They are all basically caused by psychological illnesses.

Navigating OCD tics: coping strategies for a balanced life is possible. Moreover, try to remember that giving into compulsions will only make your OCD stronger. Do something to distract yourself.

This may help focus your attention away from the urge to do the compulsion. Also, practice exposing yourself to things you fear and sitting with the difficult feelings without doing compulsions.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is one of the most effective treatment modalities for OCD.

This therapy, which is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy, aims to help you confront your fears through planned exposure techniques. It also teaches you skills to delay compulsive behavior.

Regardless, I hope you are able to somewhat control the OCD tics or any tics for that matter, Don’t let them get the best of you. You are so much more than your tics. Until next time…