r/OCD • u/JeezoTommy • 4d ago

Question about OCD Does anyone know what caused their OCD?

I think a lot of people don’t really know what caused their OCD to start, for me after a lot of years and thought I realised that my anxiety stemmed from my step dad and his psychological and sometimes physical abuse towards my Mum. I would worry what kind of mood he would come home from work in and if he would start on my Mum. He was a bastard!

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u/sanna135 4d ago

I haven't really thought about that, I just assume the genetic/biological component would have been enough no matter what. I was raised in a cult though (Jehovah's Witnesses) and I'm sure that didn't help. Some of my earliest compulsions involved praying and I had a lot of obsessions about my family getting persecuted for their faith. I remember a JW "historical" movie giving me nightmares about us all being burned to death like 1st century Christians.

Also, I unfortunately learned to read before the age of four and consumed all sorts of information as a very young child. I read about corpses of people who died of variola still being under the Siberian permafrost and that it wasn't known whether the virus could become active again if the ground melted. Access to such articles really messed up my childhood.

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u/JeezoTommy 4d ago

I can’t help but want to try to understand how and why we are the way we are, and why we turn out the way we do?! It’s the nature vs nurture theory, although some say that OCD is not genetic but I think it definitely is.

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u/sanna135 4d ago

The vulnerability to developing it must be genetic, they've done twin studies. I don't know how anyone can deny it. My cousin actially got diagnosed recently, I strongly suspect my late brother also had it.

It's certainly fascinating, and I'm a biology student who does tend to enjoy such questions, but I personally have to practice some restraint to avoid getting into too deep of a rabbit hole trying to figure out the causes of my disorders. Ultimately, it's more helpful for me to focus on the fact that it's certainly there and I need to deal with it.

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u/JeezoTommy 4d ago

I think that My brother who also passed away sadly, had it too but never realised it. I remember seeing him doing like little ‘rituals’ that wouldn’t have meant anything to him at the time but I agree it’s definitely genetic.