Tip: Surprising OCD Trigger at Work

If I have learned one lesson throughout my battle with OCD, it is that OCD will try to turn anything, no matter how mundane, into a problem. It is constantly searching for that next anxiety-provoking idea and thus will use whatever material it has its disposal in order to cause someone distress. One of my more (unfortunately) memorable experiences with this exact concept came at work when I was watching the mandatory workplace safety and respect videos. For those who do not know or have never been forced to endure these workplace videos, these videos are probably some of the most boring multimedia ever created. Corporations usually assign them to employees so they can feel like they are checking the box of promoting a healthy workplace culture. Most people simply click through these videos as fast as they can so they can get back to their actual work. That was my strategy as well when I started them, and I knew that even if I clicked as fast as I could I would still be subjected to about an hour of mind-numbing content. However, what I didn’t know was that my OCD was lurking below the surface like some sea predator, waiting to ensnare me when I least expected it.

I was cruising through the various videos in the training when I reached the “sexual harassment in the workplace” section. The associated text and videos discussed how sexual harassment involved making coworkers uncomfortable through leering glances and inappropriate comments. And at this exact moment, my OCD jumped from below the water and grabbed me in its powerful jaws. I immediately became very anxious and started to think back through basically every workplace interaction I had had with someone of the opposite sex to make sure I had never said anything untoward. Then I tried to picture every time I had looked at a coworker to make sure I hadn’t lingered on them for too long or in some sort of sexual manner. And as you can imagine, this is impossible. There is absolutely no way that someone can remember every look and encounter, and even if I did, OCD would still not let me feel as if I had “solved” the problem. I knew in the moment, as I was trying to go through my entire professional past, that I was not dealing with my OCD in the correct manner. But my anxiety overpowered my therapy at the time, partially because I was just so unprepared for an OCD attack during what I thought would be an entirely boring activity. Fortunately, after gaining more experience from OCD practice and therapy, I was much better equipped to deal with similar OCD thoughts when they appeared in the future. I learned to treat any and all OCD thoughts as the same, a practice which reduced my anxiety when dealing with new or surprise OCD attacks. And hopefully, everyone with OCD will also be able to reach that mental state during their therapy, but until that point, I would advise them to be aware that OCD is always looking for an opportunity and that a certain level of preparedness can mitigate its impact.