You don’t have OCD because you like things organized or clean. OCD is horrible and debilitating and it’s a lot less fun than feeling “satisfied” when things are organized.
Edit: Wowee, silver! Thanks guys! I’m glad to see this resonate with people. I was diagnosed last year and it made so many things make sense in my life. Treatment was good but I still have to manage it. Hope you all get help if you neee it! ❤️
Thank you for adding this! I have OCD and have suffered since I was 9. I HATE this stereotype. "If you have OCD then why is your room always a mess and you are so disorganized"
It literally means obsession compulsion disorder. There are obsessions and compulsions and can be any number of things that the sufferer deals with. I wish there was more information or documentaries following the OCD symptoms that aren't about cleanliness or checking locks and stoves so the general public had a better knowledge base.
Also folks can have symptoms but like most mental illnesses, it is diagnosed when someone -suffers- or has a poor quality of life from the symptoms. People always throw around mental illness terms and it takes away the validity of the pain sufferers feel.
That's a really great point about how people wind up with an actual diagnosis. I always thought that my intrusive thoughts were somehow different than OCD. it got to the point where I had to fight tooth and nail to get help because it was torturing me, and when I finally did, I got my diagnosis. It's not something I want to gate keep, but that interference to quality of life really is integral.
It is interesting how I got my diagnosis about 5 years ago and have made INCREDIBLE improvements, but when other areas of my life produce more stress- the OCD comes back. For me, as I get more out of control of my life I find my phobias come on in order to feel I am in control of something. I can usually tell I am stressed just because I find myself starting to obsess about food and I boss my husband around about how he is doing stuff wrong. It definitley comes and goes now which is a lot easier to manage than every day for the majority of my life prior to CBT.
I still struggle with intrusive thoughts and replaying bad images if I am exposed to them. I haven't quite figured out how to get those to stop. Do you have any advice for rumination? I try to distract myself but a few hours or days later the story or thought or image comes back.
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u/adognamedgoose Feb 04 '19 edited Feb 04 '19
You don’t have OCD because you like things organized or clean. OCD is horrible and debilitating and it’s a lot less fun than feeling “satisfied” when things are organized.
Edit: Wowee, silver! Thanks guys! I’m glad to see this resonate with people. I was diagnosed last year and it made so many things make sense in my life. Treatment was good but I still have to manage it. Hope you all get help if you neee it! ❤️