Trying to help brother with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Thoughts?

is he seeing a therapist because one specializing in this area would be the best thing for him. always try and put everything into the positive. try never to be bossy and try and put everything into a positive. for example, don't eat that! could be turned into, when i cook this and add spices, you'll really enjoy it. stay calm and repeat yourself in the same tone, if necessary. never raise your voice, thinking he can't hear you. processing is difficult for them and sometimes they get stuck.

Dear Delia, Thank you very much for your kind response. I'm really frustrated with his condition. He is studying Math at a very strict university and I think this causes his illness to become worse and worse. He loves studying and he says I will not stop trying to learn. He only consumes pills and doesn't believe in therapists. Oh, you know, I think no one can understand how much my family suffer from his problem.... He is only 24 years, but he is not energetic and he is always sad and very worried about his future.

all you can do in that case, really, is focus on your own life's goals and the corner you can leave for him is patience. If you're calm and patient every time you're with him, this may help him to relax. kindness and understanding may not be the quickest way to see symptoms alleviated but it is, in my opinion, the strongest and most effective opiate over time, especially if the whole family can adapt this approach. another thing, has he had a bio-chemical analysis and if not, he may be receptive to this since he takes the pills and it's all the same parcel really, looking at the problem externally. sometimes, though this can hit the nail on the head but no matter, the need to feel accepted and loved will help him calm down and help him to control his actions if he's not uptight. good luck with your patience, i'm well aware that we all have our moods and sometimes when we don't get enough sleep, we're quick to respond critically, but these challenging family members truly teach us what we're made of.

Dear Delia, Thanks again for giving me your valuable time. It’s my pleasure to talk to someone who is kind, wise and professional.
Kindly, does bio-chemical analysis refer to a kind of blood test?
Please note doctors have recommended him to take only 4 or 5 pills a day, however, he feels that's not effective and enough for him. Due to taking pills more than doctor’s prescriptions, he has become overdosed by pills for two times. Once he almost fainted because of taking 18 Nos. of "Lamotrigine" and 5 Nos. of "Fluvoxamine", the other time he had a severe convulsion as a result of taking high numbers of "Citalopram" pills. In both cases we were completely unaware that he was taking unacceptable Nos. of pills. Anyway, after witnessing the unusual symptoms, we urgently took him to the hospital and fortunately he was recovered. Now he has promised not to take more than doctor’s prescriptions, however, this causes another problem for him because he cannot concentrate well on his lessons. He is very clever but after studying for a few hours he becomes excessively tired so that he cannot continue studying for several days. Due to this matter, he cannot get good grades and so he has been threatened to be expelled by university executives. This makes him so worried and sad because he loves studying and his only goal in life is to be a scientist.