It’s OCD awareness month and week!! This is so important to me because I have a lot of experience dealing with this disorder. 🤍
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) consists of a pattern of unwanted intrusive thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions). These obsessions and compulsions interfere daily with activities (even simple ones) and cause a significant amount of distress. A lot of it has to do within your head. People with OCD can deal with a wide range of themes or topics that cause them intense fear. I struggle a lot with intrusive thoughts and rumination. The endless thoughts and feeling that come with them are a lot to handle.
I’ve dealt with many kinds of OCD but these were the three that were most intense:
• Symmetry/Ordering.
• Scrupulosity/Religious.
• Just right/Perfection.
I didn’t start dealing with OCD symptoms till nine or ten. I continued to struggle as years went by, with things hitting even harder at age 12. At 16, it was suggested I had OCD and age 17 is when I finally got a proper diagnosis. I started working with a specialist on OCD therapy (which includes a lot of hard exposures). I also did this online intensive outpatient program, spending hours with therapists each day.
I’ve given in to endless compulsions, physical and mental. Compulsions are something you do to give you relief from your OCD fear. But that relief only lasts temporary and it just makes the OCD grow stronger. But not doing them feels debilitating and like the end of the world. I’ve dealt with a lot of repetitive actions, routines, reassurance, and rituals.
Though I still struggle with OCD very much, I've made a lot of progress too. The destruction that OCD caused can’t be forgotten, but I am healing and learning to love myself and actually enjoy life. God was with me all through the process and I’m grateful.
OCD perceived by the world makes it look like being clean and organized. There has been a stereotype and so much stigma. It’s sad because it took forever to figure it out and to get a diagnosis because we didn't have enough awareness. That's what I hate about this world, that we just don't have enough awareness.
So that's why I'm passionate about sharing my experience and advocating because I needed that in my life. And I didn't get that at the right time, and I did not get the help that I needed. It just made life so much harder. I want others to understand that OCD is so much more and it is a debilitating disorder. I go to therapy and take medication for my OCD. Without those I would be very bad off. So it’s okay to seek treatment, you deserve the help you need.
✨Here are some resources I put together about OCD: https://mega.nz/folder/j6YnHSKI#Hha5qIh9QLLRdgWuTyESmQ
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