HW9: Superstition, Anxiety or Rituals? (article4)

             To understand more what is superstition let's define it. Superstition are not all rituals and beliefs. "The dividing line is whether you give some kind of magical significance to the rituals," Stuart Vyse, tells us. For example, if an athlete develops a ritual before a game, something says many coaches encourage, it may help to calm and focus him or her like repeating a mantra. . On the other hand, he says if you think tapping the ball a certain number of times makes you win the game, you've entered superstitious territory. Maybe, wondering a certain superstitious behaviors such as like counting the number of times you tap a ball are really a sign of obsessive compulsive disoreder (OCD). People with OCD often have compulsions to do rituals over and over again, often interfering with everyday life. A good example is Jack Nicholson, character in the movie As Good As It Gets, who skips cracks in the sidewalk and eats at the same table in the same restaurant every day, with an inability to cope with any change in routine. While some of the symptoms of OCD can mimic superstitious behavior. 

         

      Based on Vyse, "We don't think of anxiety disorders (such as OCD) as superstitious thinking. We think of it as irrational thinking, and most of our patients understand that,".  An anxiety expert from Burlington,  said that have patients that tell us that they believe that if they don't worry about something, then the likelihood of it happening will go up, and that is a superstitious thought," he says. 

       The key of this article is to pay attention to your own thinking, particularly if you experience any symptoms of anxiety like tension, excessive worry, trouble sleeping, obsessive thoughts and exhaustion. If someone experience these symptoms or find that you have repetitive ritualized behavior that's out of control and  superstitious or not  get professional help from a doctor or therapist.