Everyone needs a moral compass to guide them through their day-to-day life, decisions, and relationships. For some people, their morality is deeply tied with religion. For others, it comprises an accumulation of their life experiences and lessons. Either way, these doctrines help you navigate your life morally and ethically.
But what happens when your moral or religious compass becomes too overactive? When you scrutinize every morally “bad” thought or action? When your religion’s tenets and principles are no longer guiding your life but have completely taken?
Indeed, religion is meant to be a source of enrichment and fulfillment, not overwhelming fear, anxiety, or stress. If you’re experiencing the latter, you might suffer from religious scrupulosity OCD.
This post will review the history, definition, causes, symptoms, and treatment for religious scrupulosity OCD.
What is Religious Scrupulosity OCD?
Scrupulosity is when everyday religious or moral beliefs turn into Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
OCD is a chronic, incurable, but treatable mental and behavioral disorder characterized by two overarching symptoms— obsessions and compulsions:
- Obsessions are constant intrusive thoughts, mental images, ideas, or urges. These thoughts or images are “intrusive” because they are unwanted and go against the person’s true beliefs.
- Compulsions are repetitive, borderline ritualistic behaviors that temporarily soothe a person’s intrusive thoughts. If the sufferer does not perform these compulsions, they experience a lot of anxiety, discomfort, fear, or even guilt.
Hence, scrupulosity OCD is a subtype of OCD comprising obsessions and compulsions revolving around religion.
Sometimes, scrupulosity OCD occurs without the religious aspect. This is known as moral scrupulosity OCD, revolving around personal and non-religious ethical and moral standards.
A Brief History of Religious Scrupulosity OCD
Experts often cite religious scrupulosity as the oldest known form of OCD. Almost all of the early historical records of OCD are found in western religious literature, not medical literature.
These records indicate that obsessions around religion, or “scruples,” were commonplace from the 14th to 18th century. During this time, religion became increasingly institutionalized in the western world and permeated all aspects of everyday life. Everything from economic exchange to medicine and education was religion-based.
Hence, it is not surprising that many early accounts of OCD revolve around religion since OCD forces people to fixate on what is most important to them.
Scrupulosity Vs. Normal Religious Practices
Scrupulosity OCD is not the same as normal religious beliefs and practices.
“Scrupulosity” derives from the Latin word “scruples,” which refers to obsessive concern over one’s sins and compulsive performance of religious practices. The 17th-century Church of England cleric Jeremy Taylor describes scruples as “trouble where the trouble is over, a doubt when doubts are resolved.”
Normal religious beliefs, principles, or tenets should bring peace of mind. On the opposite end of the spectrum, scrupulosity OCD typically goes beyond or even disregards religious law, engendering excessive guilt, fear, and anxiety. It forces a person to dwell on one insignificant aspect of religion while completely ignoring other, more significant aspects.
For example, religion warns us against gluttony, instead encouraging moderation and self-discipline. However, someone with scrupulosity OCD might stop eating altogether out of fear of becoming gluttonous.
Symptoms of Religious Scrupulosity OCD
The symptoms of scrupulosity OCD fall into two categories: obsessions and compulsions. However, the two are inextricably linked, with obsessions giving rise to compulsions and compulsions soothing and neutralizing compulsions.
Scrupulosity OCD Obsessions
Scrupulosity obsessions come in many forms and differ from person to person. Some common obsessions include:
- Sinning — sinful intrusive thoughts are common in scrupulosity OCD. You might excessively scrutinize each thought and action to ensure you aren’t sinning.
- Eternal damnation — people with scrupulosity OCD have an overwhelming fear of being condemned to hell because of sinful behavior, even if this behavior doesn’t warrant eternal damnation. Furthermore, you might worry about your loved ones being sentenced to hell.
- Praying — Scrupulosity OCD convinces its victims that they aren’t praying correctly or enough.
- Losing faith — people with scrupulosity OCD often fear losing touch with their religion, believing that bad things will happen as a result. Hence, they overcompensate this fear by holding tightly to their faith.
- Blasphemous thoughts — scrupulosity may make you hyperaware of blasphemous thoughts. Certain sinful mental images, thoughts, or ideas might pop up out of nowhere, making you worry that you have offended God.
- Possession — some people with scrupulosity OCD may fear that they are, or are going to be, possessed by evil spirits or the devil.
Scrupulosity OCD Compulsions
Like obsessions, scrupulosity compulsions can differ from person to person. Here are some common scrupulosity compulsions:
- Excessive praying — people with scrupulosity OCD may engage in excessive prayer, even repeating specific prayers for hours.
- Confessing — scrupulosity makes people excessively confess their sins to priests, church elders, friends, and family.
- Reassurance seeking — people with scrupulosity OCD may seek reassurance from everyone around them that they are acting according to religious doctrines and that they’re not going to hell.
- Avoidance — scrupulosity may give rise to avoidance behaviors to avoid anything that might trigger the obsession. For example, you may steer clear of a religious figure if you’ve had an intrusive sexual thought about them.
- Thought neutralization — if a blasphemous thought or image pops up in their head, people with scrupulosity OCD will attempt to neutralize that thought with another positive religious thought.
Treatment for Religious Scrupulosity OCD 150
Religious scrupulosity OCD can be treated the same way all forms of OCD are treated: Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) therapy and medication.
ERP therapy is the best treatment option for OCD. It is a psychotherapeutic treatment that helps you change unhelpful thinking patterns and compulsive behaviors. Over the course of 12-15 weeks, your therapist will help you confront your intrusive thoughts head-on in a safe and controlled environment.
In some cases, your OCD specialist may put you on a medication course as well. However, medication alone does not treat OCD. Instead, it merely supplements your ERP sessions and makes them more bearable.
Conclusion
For many people, religion is typically a source of fulfillment and serenity. However, scrupulosity OCD completely subverts this purpose, giving rise to overwhelming fear, guilt, and anxiety.
The only way to recover from scrupulosity OCD is through ERP therapy. While ERP can be extremely mentally and physically draining, it will help you overcome your scrupulosity and practice your religion in a non-fearful, productive way.
