Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders

Body-focused repetitive behaviours, or BFRBs, are a cluster of habitual behaviours that include hair pulling, skin picking, nail biting, nose picking, and lip or cheek biting. Currently, the most recent edition of the clinician’s diagnostic manual (DSM-5), has listed both hair pulling, called Trichotillomania, and skin picking, called skin excoriation, as BFRBs that are of clinical concern.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that affects about 1-2% of the population. People with OCD experience both obsessions and compulsions.

Many children will develop OCD early, starting between ages seven and 12. In fact, most adults with OCD say their symptoms started when they were children.

May of us have a “lucky” sweater that we wear because we think it will help us win a game or pass a test. Rituals can have place in our lives. But when these thoughts and actions begin to impact your everyday life it may be a sign of something more serious: a mental illness called obsessive-compulsive disorder.