Well, a friend with OCD got parents that think she's now healthy, because she is good enough to do close to a full workload at University with average grades while getting rather good support (obviously not from them). She's overall rather miserable and working all the time.
Naturally, they keep telling her stuff that sounds like it is out of a guidebook "how to make someone's OCD worse" and are not willing to look for help themselves. Medical treatment is one side, the other is that society and parents in particular accept the existence of mental illness and how they might risk causing such in their children.
I was deeply unwell for many years before I learned how to handle OCD. Had no idea there was data showing it this much of an impact on well being!
I remember lamenting to my therapist about how I had wasted a lot of my youth on compulsive behaviour, and he said "well, maybe you didn't waste it, maybe it was stolen from you" and it helped put it into perspective. It's a rough condition to live with.
It is simply impossible to describe the nightmare of OCD. I tell my friends: imagine the worst horror movie you can imagine. That’s it — you are living it, trapped inside your head, every single day. And it’s like you can feel the structures of your mind snapping and breaking under the constant constricting pressure of the obsessions. The wear and tear makes you genuinely believe you are going insane. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Thank God for ERP and CBT, which I respond to very well. I can’t imagine having OCD and not being responsive to treatment. That’s a life worse than death.
Another OCD haver here. (Although pretty mild in the scheme of things) I thought it was well understood to be fairly high up on the list of debilitating conditions. That being said, I found CBT to be amazingly effective. Somewhat related question, have you read books you'd recommend? Not on the self help side of things but understanding the disorder itself?
Well, a friend with OCD got parents that think she's now healthy, because she is good enough to do close to a full workload at University with average grades while getting rather good support (obviously not from them). She's overall rather miserable and working all the time.
Naturally, they keep telling her stuff that sounds like it is out of a guidebook "how to make someone's OCD worse" and are not willing to look for help themselves. Medical treatment is one side, the other is that society and parents in particular accept the existence of mental illness and how they might risk causing such in their children.
I was deeply unwell for many years before I learned how to handle OCD. Had no idea there was data showing it this much of an impact on well being!
I remember lamenting to my therapist about how I had wasted a lot of my youth on compulsive behaviour, and he said "well, maybe you didn't waste it, maybe it was stolen from you" and it helped put it into perspective. It's a rough condition to live with.
It is simply impossible to describe the nightmare of OCD. I tell my friends: imagine the worst horror movie you can imagine. That’s it — you are living it, trapped inside your head, every single day. And it’s like you can feel the structures of your mind snapping and breaking under the constant constricting pressure of the obsessions. The wear and tear makes you genuinely believe you are going insane. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Thank God for ERP and CBT, which I respond to very well. I can’t imagine having OCD and not being responsive to treatment. That’s a life worse than death.
Another OCD haver here. (Although pretty mild in the scheme of things) I thought it was well understood to be fairly high up on the list of debilitating conditions. That being said, I found CBT to be amazingly effective. Somewhat related question, have you read books you'd recommend? Not on the self help side of things but understanding the disorder itself?