Sometimes, I like to joke around and say that I did not inherit the “clean gene” because housekeeping does not come naturally to me. While keeping a tidy home may be second nature for some people, I actually have to work pretty hard at it. Did you know that for the most part, your housekeeping behaviors are most likely influenced in large part by the home environment that you grew up in and not by genetics? For individuals that suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, however, the concept of the “clean gene” has some truth to it and it is no laughing matter.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD as it is commonly called, is one of a growing number of mental health conditions that are now thought to be hereditary, at least in some cases. There are multiple potential causes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and genetics is among them. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be expressed by an individual in a few different ways, and the way that a person expresses the disorder is related to the underlying compulsive fear that they have. For example, some people affected by OCD fear being contaminated by germs. These people are constantly washing their hands and everything else around them. Other people with OCD fear disorder and they spend a great deal of time organizing things so that nothing is ever out of place.
Of course, not everyone that keeps an immaculate home is affected by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Some people are, by nature, very neat and like to keep their surroundings clean. People that are affected by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder take this to an extreme, spending so much time repetitively cleaning or organizing that they are unable to engage in other activities. Fortunately, although the causes for OCD vary from person to person and there may be multiple causes for the disorder, a variety of types of help and support are available. If you think that you or someone that you know may be among the two percent of the population that are affected by OCD, you may want to seek help soon so that you can restore peace and balance in your life.