Habits are behaviors that develop over time and become automatic or unconscious actions. A person may engage in a habit with little thought about why they are doing it or whether it should be done. Although habits are all a type of compulsion, someone with a compulsive disorder has very little control over their their behavior.
Habits, although deeply ingrained, can be changed by more awareness and thought to how a person normally behaves. Compulsions are much more difficult to address because the person may experience a lot of anxiety if they are not able to engage in their usual behavior. People with compulsive disorder or OCD will repeat certain actions as a way to ease their anxiety and because they feel intense psychological pressure to do so.
If a person has compulsions they will not be able to simply stop their behavior by simply thinking about it, and they will need more complex treatment to address their actions. People with compulsive disorder often have anxieties or obsessive thoughts that cause them to engage in compulsions. They don’t know how to cope with their overwhelming fears and doubts and end up developing rituals of repetitive behavior to stop their obsessive thoughts.
While a person with bad habits may be able to resolve their behavior on their own by becoming more mindful of what they do and replacing the bad habit with a good one, compulsions are more complicated. Compulsive disorder requires psychological intervention and cognitive behavioral therapy to help address the underlying anxieties and obsessions so that the individual can change their behavior. Patients can gradually confront their fears and obsessive thoughts and start to see that they often don’t reflect reality.
The more a person engages in compulsions it can keep reinforcing anxiety and fear so addressing these issues can help change their behavior and lead them to healthier thoughts and actions.