OCD

Well since I covered agoraphobia yesterday I suppose I'll cover OCD today and then I can get on with my experiences and those of my family. Many members of my family also suffer with some or all of these disorders as well. My sister's main problem, for instance, is OCD. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has a few different faces. By that I mean it shows up differently in different people but it's still OCD. My sister's OCD is the kind that makes her check and recheck everything. She used to own a wedding invitation business and it was probably the worst thing she could have been doing since she was such a stickler for perfection. She would check and recheck to make sure the wording on the invitations was PERFECT. Everyone who is ordering wedding invitations appreciates that, I'm sure but, for the person doing it and those who are watching what she is going through with it it's a nightmare, to hear her spelling and respelling names and words. She would go from the first draft to the order form over and over again word by painful word checking and rechecking to make sure it was perfect. Even then it didn't mean that the invitation would come out perfect when all was said and done. Sometimes the printers would screw up and then my sister would beat herself up thinking she didn't check it enough because she made a mistake.

Another way OCD manifests itself is the sufferer will often have to go back to check to see if they have turned off the stove, locked the door, put out the cat... even though they know darn well that they have done it. But they must check one more time to make sure. I read another example of this same kind of OCD where the sufferer might hit a bump in the road and while they didn't see anyone they will have to go back to that spot to check to see if perhaps they hit a person that they didn't see. If it happens to you once it means you are conscientious but when this kind of stuff happens to you constantly and causes you much stress and worry there is a good chance that you may have OCD.

My husband had a bout with OCD shortly after the birth of our first child. We had gone fishing that day and my Mom baby sat for us. When we got home my husband was watching our daughter so I could bathe and while he was watching her a thought occurred to him that scared the living day lights out of him. His thought was 'what if I punched the baby?' He's not a violent man, he wasn't harboring any animosity toward her nor was he crazy. Later on a psychiatrist that he went to see told him that no he was not crazy, if he was he would have just done it and never thought twice about it. No what he had was a random thought that because he is the man that he is it caused him anxiety and stress thinking that because he had that thought he might do something as horrible as that. This is mostly how OCD in me most of the time. I can remember a time when I was trying to hide the kitchen knives on myself because I was afraid that I would totally lose my mind and stab the kids while my husband was at work. Yeah it sounds crazy but I never did it and I never had an urge to actually do it just the fear that I would lose my mind and do it. The last time I had problems with panic, anxiety, depression, and OCD, (yes I had them all at once) I was afraid that I was going to hurt the cat. I'm sure there are other forms but the ones that I have described today are the kind that I am most familiar with.

Mentioning that I had panic, anxiety, depression and OCD at once got me to thinking about how when I start to really have problems with any one the rest seem to show up as companions. Sometimes there is one thing that is prevalent but for the most part they all seem to show up along with the one sort of like support just in case you can overcome the one the next one can step up and take over. Thinking gets rather irrational for one who is suffering with any one of these mental disorders. Not crazy but you start worrying about day to day things that you would otherwise never give a second thought to when you are feeling well.

One more example of OCD (I just thought of it) are people who are germaphobes. People who have a huge aversion to germs. I think we can all think of a popular comedian that is a germaphobe and doesn't shake hands hug or kiss others, instead he bumps elbows with others as a greeting. Now you may think of this as funny because he is a funny man but it isn't . I'm sure he feels a lot of stress and pain because of his phobia and I think that we should all be a little more sympathetic toward him. If he wants to laugh about it go ahead and laugh along with him as it may be a way of coping with the disorder but don't think that he is kidding and then try to force your hand into his to shake it or give him a big ole bear hug if you should meet him or anyone like him, you can be causing a real problem for the sufferer. While the cure for such phobias is exposure therapy the sufferer needs the tools to be able to cope with such exposure and they have to be willing to try.

I know there was more that I wanted to post today but after that side track I can't think of what else I wanted to cover today, besides it's getting late again and I need to get my day started. If I remember what it was I'll cover it tomorrow.