Patients with compulsive behavior know that regardless of whether the behavior is washing hands, checking, or any other form of expression, the impulse to act can sometimes be controlled and sometimes difficult to control. In different patients, this difference also exists: a simple idea can trigger a “big explosion” of compulsive behavior in some patients, while for other patients, this idea may only be an idea that remains in the brain for a long time without causing any behavior. Is there any pattern behind this difference?
Some researchers believe that the reason for this lies in the vividness of patients’ imagination. Previous studies have also pointed out that if compulsive thinking is accompanied by illusory but matching sensory experiences, compulsive behavior is prone to occur. For example, when a patient with a compulsive examination type goes out, the idea of “if the gas is forgotten to turn off, the house will catch fire” may arise. However, if he can also smell the smell of burnt objects in his senses at the same time, his compulsive behavior of returning for verification will be difficult to control.
Steffen Moritz from the University of Hamburg in Germany gathered 34 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder who were receiving treatment at the university’s medical center to measure the severity of their symptoms and the “sensory experience” of compulsive thinking. As a result, it was found that three-quarters of patients experienced either mild or severe sensory experiences when experiencing compulsive thinking, and the stronger the experience, the greater the likelihood of it causing compulsive behavior.
Patients who are forced to wash their hands stubbornly have the idea of worrying about contamination after touching certain specific objects, which makes it difficult for them to control the urge to wash their hands. In addition, they may also vividly “feel” the tingling sensation on their fingers, and the stronger this tingling sensation, the more severe the compulsive behavior.
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No matter how this feeling arises, it is an illusion, a perception without a real basis. Perhaps in the present moment, you need to make a decision: should you act according to your feelings of emptiness or according to the down-to-earth reality?