Dr. Alok Kanuja (Dr. K)

So we have to explain what a compulsion is, okay?

So a compulsion is something that you do in response to an obsession.

And this is what's kind of confusing for a lot of people.

A lot of people think that the compulsion has to be a physical behavior.

So people will think, okay, if I don't, I'm afraid that the house is gonna burn down.

So what I'm gonna do is turn the stove on and off seven times to make sure the house doesn't burn down.

So I have the obsession, this intrusive, unwanted thought that the house is going to burn down, and I have to do something in order to make that obsession feel calm.

So sometimes that's a physical action, but there are mental compulsions as well.

So a compulsion is something that we do to relieve the mental stress that we are experiencing in the moment.

So sometimes what people will do is, I worked with one patient who, for example, would say in her head, all of my family will be okay.

All of my family will be home safe.

I will see all of my family tomorrow.

Anytime one of her family members was traveling, plane, going back from work, going to the grocery store, if she became aware of it, she would have to repeat those phrases in her head forever.

three times in a row.

And it was really, really debilitating because her mom is like, hey, do you want anything from the grocery store?

And then she has to stop studying and start going through the litany in her head.

So what do we see in limerence?

We don't quite see that kind of compulsion, but we do see a lot of mental reactions or mental responses to different kinds of stimuli or triggers.

I don't think that necessarily these people have OCD.

So this is where we also have to kind of understand something else about science.