Personal Narrative: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Throughout my elementary school days, my teachers regarded me as a trouble maker. Most instructors just assumed that as a young boy, I was naturally energetic and loud. My second grade teacher, however, did not see it that way. She told my mom about her hunch, suggesting that I get tested for ADD. My mother however, thought I was just being an overzealous kid. Yet, the bad reports continued. Many teachers said that I was “too loud, disruptive, hyper, etc.”. Finally, I was diagnosed with ADD in eighth grade.

It was dark and alone and I felt the need to cry. One by one everyone I have ever loved showed up. My mom, my sister, my late girlfriend, my grandma… I could go on. Their eyes were on me and only me. I was the only stimulus in the room. The yelled at me. I was irrational . I had put them in a situation where they didn’t even know me anymore. I was the monster under the bed and I was the reason why people were scared. They yelled so loud to the point where I didn’t even know if they were screams anymore.

I crippled down into a pit of confusion and sadness. Although this happened often, it always seemed to hit home hard as the months progressed. I arrived home and tossed myself into the soft comfort of my bed. Curled up into a ball, I tightened and released my grip on my white covers repeatedly, my body slowly dozing in and out of slumber as I watched small ripples in the outdoor pool shine upon my bedroom wall, the moonlight brightening it. Slowly the whispers began developing, and I allowed them. I needed to listen, they crowded my mind and maybe they were all right. So, there I sat in the silence. Jabbled words filled the room, they seemed to be everywhere. Woman, children, and men. I tensed at the words, trying to make out what they were telling me. In the background faint noises played, either from past songs the band and I had developed or ones that just kept coming. Threats or sarcastic remarks, occasional words remembered from my parents or enemies. They kept coming, intensifying by the second, getting louder and louder, until the point where... I snapped. I sat up and screamed into the darkness, pulling at my hair and kicking my feet, as if I were having some kind of a toddler tantrum. My breath quickened and my nose wrinkled, like how it always did when I got worked up. Slowly, and then all at once they stopped. My mind gathered in the silence, and I slammed back down into the pillow, turning my head into it, screaming once more until

This feeling was unusual because as a youngster, I spent most of my childhood going on acting auditions and

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disorder that can affect children and adults. In order to fully understand OCD, many different areas of the disorder must be reviewed. First, OCD will be defined and the diagnosis criteria will be discussed. Secondly the prevalence of the disorder will be considered. The different symptoms, behaviors and means of treatment are also important aspects that will be discussed in order to develop a clearer understanding of the implications of obsessive compulsive disorder.

Obsessive compulsion disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder described by irrational thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive tasks (compulsions) (Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, 2013). When a person has obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may realize that their obsessions aren't accurate, and they may try to overlook them but that only increases their suffering and worry. Eventually, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to ease your stressful feelings. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is often driven by a reason, cause, or fear for example, a fear of germs. To calm the feeling of this fear, a person may compulsively wash their hands until they're sore and chapped. Despite their efforts, thoughts of obsessive-compulsive behavior keep coming back. This leads to more ritualistic behavior and a brutal cycle of obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD is the fourth most common mental disorder, and is diagnosed nearly as often as asthma and diabetes (Who We Are, 2012). In the United States, one in 50 adults suffers from OCD. Obsessive compulsive disorder affects children, adolescents, and adults. About one third to one half of adults with OCD report a childhood onset of the disorder, they felt these anxieties but were not diagnosed or felt no need to be diagnosed until the compulsions over whelmed them (Who We Are, 2012). The phrase obsessive compulsive has been used to describe excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated person. While

I do not think most people understand how much I would sacrifice to live the life of someone else. No, it’s not because I live a life of poverty or have terminal cancer. It’s something far deeper, lurking beneath what I care to show the world. Still, it’s a thought that floats around my mind every second of every day, like a fly’s constant buzz as it scours the room for its next victim. I know for a fact that I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Though it may sound silly, my hundreds of Google searches on the subject have told me otherwise. The clinical definition of this apparent mental health condition is “an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts and/or repetitive behaviors”. From experience, those who have never been exposed to this kind of mindset view OCD as some sort of joke. “After all,” they say, “who is dumb enough to check a lock a million times?”

I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder when I was fourteen. Thoughts of germs plagued me everywhere I went. I wasn’t necessarily afraid of getting sick; I was just obsessed with everything being germ free. Before touching anything, a rundown of the possible germs on it consumed my mind. Everything between an outstretched hand to a school desk traumatized me. Who knows the last time this person washed their hands? Who knows what type of people could have been sitting here before me? Everything was a mystery, so I didn’t touch most things. It was tough to get through a day without coming in contact with something that made me uncomfortable. Touching school desks and textbooks were inevitable, so I carried around a bottle of germ-x with me everywhere I went. I’m sure my classmates got sick of the stench of hand sanitizer; it got quite old after the 20th time I put it on… that hour. Everyday was a battle inside my own mind, and I knew something had to change.

Mental illness has come a long way through history. Since the advent of modern medicine, people would keep their diagnoses secret out of fear of judgement by society. Things are different now, though; it is encouraged to be open about mental illness and reach out to friends and family for support. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is that people can still manage to reduce something as serious as a clinical disorder to just a joke. In the 21st century, more people use the term ‘OCD’ to mean a normal attribute of someone who values neatness than to recognize it as the serious disorder that it is. Using the social definition of OCD to mean a personality quirk is harmful because it brings stigmatizes those suffering from it and disparages

As I continue asking her about her custom “Do you have a safe place to go to? normally people who have a disability will have the safe place to fall back too.” And she says “My home is my safe space which is a cute way of saying it's a judgment-free zone, I can relax and be myself without worrying about making eye contact or something with someone. Coincidentally, it also makes me very uncomfortable to let anyone come over because then it feels as if I have no escape, which means I don't like to have visitors.” I definitely understand how she feels, most people coincidentally house is a safe place or heaven on earth they are no place like home. I did not mention that I have an OCD, which is an Obsessive compulsive disorder. But in my case,

Hi Kuenzi! The article you mentioned about OCD is very relivant in my life. I like to just be a very neat and clean person and people call my OCD because of it. Although I show no excessive behavior, they continue to call me OCD. I think it is wrong for people to use this word so freely when there are people dealing with it as a struggle.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, involves anxious thoughts or rituals one feels and can't control. . For many years, OCD was thought to be rare. The actual number of people with OCD was hidden, because people would hide their problem to avoid embarrassment. Some recent studies show that as many as 3 million Americans ages 18 to 54 may have OCD at any one time. This is about 2.3% of the people in this age group. It strikes men and women in approximately equal numbers and usually first appears in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. One-third of adults with OCD report having experienced their first symptoms as children. The course of the disease is variable. Symptoms may come

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, also known as OCD, is a disorder that affects about two to three percent of the population (UOCD). Knowing what OCD is and who it affects is just step one in understanding the psychology of this disorder. The psychological symptoms of OCD can be quite varied which can make it difficult to diagnose. Understanding the therapy techniques and how people with OCD live their daily lives is one of the most vital part in the psychology of OCD. While the roots of the disorder may be complex, understanding the disorder in everyday life is quite simple.

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