Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken - Samuel Johnson
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7 things I wish people understood about OCD
In 2012, Derek Aspacher, my husband, was literally sick with anxiety. I could tell something had been off for months, but during the last several weeks of this period he began having full breakdowns, sometime sobbing in my arms as I tried to calm him down. I was flabbergasted at first, struggling to understand why my husband — typically a timid, stoic person — was suddenly torn apart.
After Derek decided he couldn't deal with it anymore, we went to the hospital. They diagnosed him with obsessive compulsive disorder, an anxiety-causing disorder that leads to obsessive, overwhelmingly negative thoughts.
Since then, we have devoted a lot of time learning about OCD and…
Resources
How I Finally Kicked My O.C.D.
In sharing with friends and family the weirdest things about me, I expect humiliation, or at least some solid recoils in horror. Instead, they mull it over, ask a couple of questions, then tell me the weirdest things about themselves. Over time, I even become a trusted resource for friends newly tackling their own mental health.
How OCD impairs memory and learning in children and adolescents – and what to do about it
Imagine feeling like you’re covered in germs that could kill you every time you come home from being in a public space. Before showering, you’d have to get inside without letting anything that’s touched the outside world come into contact with your house. The reality of living with obsessive compulsive disorder can be debilitating, and quite different from what people usually mean when they refer to themselves as being “a bit OCD”.
Inside the Complex Realities of OCD
Understanding one of our most common—and least understood—mental health experiences.
Lily Bailey’s Because We Are Bad Made Me Rethink OCD
Seeing OCD through her more gendered lens made me reconsider my own experience of it.
O.C.D., My Exhausting Best Friend
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a companion that constantly wants to protect me, never realizing the threats it sees aren’t legitimate.
Simple smartphone app that could help OCD sufferers
The current treatments for this type of OCD are either antidepressants or cognitive behavioural therapy. However, almost 40% of OCD sufferers currently fail to respond to these types of treatments. But my colleagues and I have started researching new and innovative ways to manage and treat OCD – and it might be as simple as using a smartphone app.
The Many Obsessions That Can Haunt a Person with OCD
An intimate look at seven lesser-known types of OCD that are darker, harder to talk about, and can remain undiagnosed for years.
Madness Made Them Great
The man could not stand dirt. When he built his company’s first factory in Fremont, Calif., in 1984, he frequently got down on his hands and knees and looked for specks of dust on the floor as well as on all the equipment. For Steve Jobs, who was rolling out the Macintosh computer, these extreme measures were a necessity. “If we didn’t have the discipline to keep that place spotless,” the Apple co-founder later recalled, “then we weren’t going to have the discipline to keep all these machines running.”
The Obsessive World of Howie Mandel
People with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder may be aware that their obsessions and compulsions are senseless or unrealistic, but they cannot stop themselves. Howie Mandel recently released an autobiographical account of his lifelong struggles with OCD.
America’s Fifty-Fold Increase in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD often presents alongside autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other diagnoses that are not only increasingly common in American children but often persist into adulthood.
How Compulsions Help Us Manage Our Age of Anxiety
Neuroimaging and other brain-based studies suggest that compulsive behavior is a form of self-reassurance that can help us function.
O.C.D., a Disorder That Cannot Be Ignored
In the 1997 film “As Good As It Gets,” Jack Nicholson portrays Melvin Udall, a middle-aged man with obsessive-compulsive disorder who avoids stepping on cracks, locks doors and flips light switches exactly five times, and washes his hands repeatedly, each time tossing out the new bar of soap he used. He brings wrapped plastic utensils to the diner where he eats breakfast at the same table every day. Though the film is billed as a romantic comedy, Melvin’s disorder is nothing to laugh about. O.C.D. is often socially, emotionally and vocationally crippling.
Obsessive Thoughts: A Darker Side of OCD
Depictions in media tend to focus on the compulsive behavior. Obsessive thinking like mine, though, can be debilitating.
The Only Cure for OCD Is Expensive, Elusive, and Scary
The best treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder forces sufferers to confront their fears. But for many patients, the treatment is far out of reach.
You're Probably Not 'So OCD:' The Truth About Millions With Real Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Like other mental health issues, OCD has a long way to go when it comes to public perception. Online games like the recent, viral “How Sensitive Is Your OCD Radar” quiz from Playbuzz, lists like Buzzfeed’s “19 Things That Will Drive Your OCD Self Insane” and idioms like, “she is so OCD” to describe the neat and tidy have led to widespread ignorance, to the detriment of those knowingly or unknowingly suffering from the condition. Say you're a neat freak or an organizational maven, but don't casually call yourself "OCD," because the condition is far from a cute quirk.
7 things I wish people understood about OCD
They diagnosed him with obsessive compulsive disorder, an anxiety-causing disorder that leads to obsessive, overwhelmingly negative thoughts. Since then, we have devoted a lot of time learning about OCD and how he can cope with it. Besides the occasional bad episode, things are now great. But it still bothers us how widely misunderstood OCD is in the media and among the general public — sometimes in a way that can actually make Derek's OCD worse. I talked to Derek about his OCD. Here are seven things he told me people should understand, from his perspective.
OCD-UK
OCD-UK is the leading national charity, independently working with and for people with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
OCD Action
It's Time To Act...OCD Action is the largest national charity focusing on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). We provide support and information to anybody affected by OCD, work to raise awareness of the disorder amongst the public and frontline healthcare workers, and strive to secure a better deal for people with OCD.
OCD Hotline of New York/New Jersey
Get live FREE OCD advice within 24 hours from New York expert, Doctor Steven Brodsky, who is a specialist in OCD treatment.
OCD Online
This web site is devoted exclusively to promoting a greater understanding of the treatment and mental processes of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The creator of this site, Dr Steven Phillipson, recognizes that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is still minimally understood by the vast majority of mental health professionals.
OCD Recovery Center
The OCD Recovery Center provides innovative and comprehensive treatment programs for individuals and families seeking relief from the wide range of Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders.
The OCD Treatment Centre
We are a team of specialists with over 10 years experience in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
BeyondOCD.org
BeyondOCD.org aims to help all people affected by OCD, anxiety, and related disorders
Cherry's Website
Working Together to Turn OCD Caterpillars into Butterflies!
International OCD Foundation
Founded by a group of people with OCD in 1986, the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) is an international not-for-profit organization made up of people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders, as well as their families, friends, professionals and others.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
People from all walks of life can get OCD. It strikes people of all social and ethnic groups and both males and females. Symptoms typically begin during childhood, the teenage years or young adulthood.
National Anxiety Foundation
Although adults realize in part that these obsessions and compulsions are senseless, they have great difficulty stopping them. Children with OCD may not realize their behavior is unusual.
National Institute of Mental Health
Everyone double checks things sometimes. For example, you might double check to make sure the stove or iron is turned off before leaving the house. But people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) feel the need to check things repeatedly, or have certain thoughts or perform routines and rituals over and over. The thoughts and rituals associated with OCD cause distress and get in the way of daily life.
PsychCentral
OCD Information & Treatment.
Support Groups
SupportGroups.com is a growing online support groups community. Our goal is to bring people together around life's challenges by providing concise, up-to-date information and a meeting place for individuals, their friends and families, and professionals who offer pathways to help.
KidsHealth
OCD is a type of anxiety (say: ang-zye-uh-tee) that happens when there is a problem with the way the brain deals with normal worrying and doubts. Kids with OCD worry a lot.
MedicineNet
Most individuals with OCD experience some symptoms of the disorder indefinitely, with times of improvement alternating with times of difficulty. However, the prognosis is most favorable for OCD sufferers who have milder symptoms that last for less time and who have no other problems before developing this illness.
MedlinePlus
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a type of anxiety disorder. If you have OCD, you have repeated, upsetting thoughts called obsessions. You do the same thing over and over again to try to make the thoughts go away. Those repeated actions are called compulsions.
NHS
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental health condition that is usually associated with both obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviour.
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