What comes to mind when you hear the word, OCD?
In case you're wondering, no, I don't have OCD. But people have referred to me as someone who is "so OCD".
It's not a joke and it's not a funny term, whether they do have it or not.
Unfortunately people are just not educated about it enough to understand what OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) really is.
What are the signs and symptoms of OCD?
Obsessive thoughts
Common obsessive thoughts in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) include:
- Fear of being contaminated by germs or dirt or contaminating others.
- Fear of causing harm to yourself or others.
- Intrusive sexually explicit or violent thoughts and images.
- Excessive focus on religious or moral ideas.
- Fear of losing or not having things you might need.
- Order and symmetry: the idea that everything must line up “just right.”
- Superstitions; excessive attention to something considered lucky or unlucky.
Common compulsive behaviors in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) include:
- Excessive double-checking of things, such as locks, appliances, and switches.
- Repeatedly checking in on loved ones to make sure they’re safe.
- Counting, tapping, repeating certain words, or doing other senseless things to reduce anxiety.
- Spending a lot of time washing or cleaning.
- Ordering or arranging things “just so.”
- Praying excessively or engaging in rituals triggered by religious fear.
- Accumulating “junk” such as old newspapers or empty food containers.
While the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder usually occurs during adolescence or young adulthood, younger children sometimes have symptoms that look like OCD. However, the symptoms of other disorders, such as ADD, autism, and Tourette’s syndrome, can also look like obsessive-compulsive disorder, so a thorough medical and psychological exam is essential before any diagnosis is made.
If you're a Glee fan like me, the last and one of the most intense episodes of this season was the one when Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) invites Emma Pillsbury's (Jayma Mills) parents for the first time to their home only to discover their abhorrent and imprudent behaviour towards the world and worse, to their own daughter. Especially considering her condition.
He finished the episode with a rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You" while on bended knee's next to Emma in prayer.
Very touching episode.
The week that past from October 10-16th was OCD Awareness Month.
In light of this, I have asked a wonderful lady that I met via Twitter, Andrea Kayne Kaufman, a wife, mother, professor at DePaul University College of Education, writer and author of Oxford Messed Up, to contribute a guest post on her journey and thoughts about OCD.
Thank you so much, Andrea, for your wonderful contribution!
That’s so OCD
and
other phrases we loathe…
by Andrea Kayne Kaufman
by Andrea Kayne Kaufman
One
of the taboo phrases in our house is “That’s so OCD.” We hear it so much in schools, offices, and
other public spaces. It’s become part of
our common parlance—when someone checks several times to make sure the car door
is locked, when someone washes their hands religiously before and after every
meal, and when someone is generally too nit-picky or anal. But OCD is more than a phrase or an insult,
it is a disorder we think we know because we see it in film and
television. Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets; Tony Shalhoub in Monk; and Jayma Mays in Glee.
While Hollywood may have good intentions, it often focuses on the quirky
behaviors (compulsions) OCD causes without addressing the real internal torture
and obsessions that a person with OCD experiences.
It is difficult to really understand
this internal torture unless you’ve experienced it first had. Unfortunately, it is something my family knows
all too well. One of our children had
always been picky and precise. We
noticed it getting much worse when he started the 3rd grade and was
placed in classroom with a weak teacher who could not control some loud bullies. That external trigger ignited his latent OCD.
The psychologist described the OCD as “conflagration” as we watched the disease
consume our child, severely undermining the ability to talk, to eat, to move,
and to relate to peers in any way.
We learned the
hard way that OCD was not funny at all; it was internal torture. For the sufferer of OCD, it is as if there is
an internal voice that compels destructive behaviors based on irrational
obsessions to alleviate intense anxiety.
The person with OCD knows these obsessions and compulsions are
irrational but is gripped by the internal voice and its illusory promise of
relief.
The psychologist
and psychiatrist informed us that if there was a chance of recovering from the
OCD, it would have to be through the combination of Cognitive Behavior Therapy
and medication. Both of these options seemed frightening, but it was more
frightening watching his deterioration. Cognitive Behavior Therapy with its
rigid “tough love” system of rewards and punishments seemed so archaic, but it
was…and still is…the only therapy that has been proven successful in treating
OCD. It is also called ERP which stands
for Exposure and Response Therapy.
It requires
exposing the person with OCD to what they are most anxious about so that they
can prove to themselves and their internal OCD voice that they can tolerate the
anxiety and that their fallacious assumption that world is coming to an end is
not true. Thus for the OCD who is checker
and cannot leave the house because she is afraid she left the burners on, she
will have to gradually be forced to leave her house with the burners on. The OCD germaphobe may be forced to eat food
from the floor. And because my child’s
scrupulosity OCD resulted in him removing himself from his peers, we needed to
force him to have peer interactions.
CBT/ ERP is very
painful for the person with OCD, forcing them to confront what they are most
afraid of and what gives them short-term comfort (although like most
addictions, it never lasts and they always need more). CBT/ ERP, however, is
the only proven treatment that works and it can be more effective if coupled
with medication. We got our son the help
he needed and within just a few months he was dramatically improved. Everyone called it a miracle, but for the OCD
community, it was a matter of course.
The doctors have me talk to parents all the time to give them courage to
try and stick with the treatment. Even
though the results are so incredible, it is hard to see it through.
In addition to
my wonderful husband and family, the main person who got me through was Gloria.
Thank God for Gloria. She was born on
the shores of Lake Michigan, where I would escape every morning to walk by the
lake as I listened to Van Morrison and occasionally some Bob Dylan. Gloria’s
name came from one of Van Morrison’s most famous songs, “Gloria” (performed
prior to his solo career with his 1960s band, Them), and Zimmerman is a
reference to the last name Bob Dylan was born with. She was a 22-year-old young woman with
untreated OCD. In my mind, she helped me understand what my family was going
through. She consoled me. She gave me the courage to see the Cognitive Behavior
Therapy through to the end, no matter how difficult.
I have written a
fiction account of Gloria, giving her the same happy ending we had. I was fortunate enough to get a New York
agent on my first try. Publishers were
very enthusiastic about the writing but they did not believe the depiction of
OCD even though my book had been vetted by several prominent experts and lauded
as “the first true depiction of OCD in fiction.” But it was so important that people really
understand the internal torture of OCD and how it can be treated effectively so
my husband and I formed our own independent Grant Place Press. The book has received rave reviews and there
were will be several articles in prominent magazines.
Our
society’s superficial understanding of OCD disregards the internal torture that
people with OCD struggle with every day.
They think they know OCD, judging friends and family and laughing at
their ridiculous anal behavior. That’s
so not OCD.
-------
In addition to her debut novel, Oxford Messed Up, Andrea is currently working on her next novel, Parent Over Shoulder. In this poignant love story, Andrea brings her education background, sensitivity, insight and articulate writing style to another “hell” found in many school communities – cyber-bullying. You can preview the first sample pages here.
To learn more about Andrea Kayne Kaufman and her journey with OCD and amazing work, you can visit her at: http://andreakaynekaufman.com.
3 comments:
I love this article. I completely agree. People throw around "OCD" like it's no biggie when in fact it truly is illness for those who have to deal with it everyday.
Thank you for reading, Charlene. Words like "OCD" or "Retarded" and now even "Bipolar" have been used casually by many ignorant people as way of poking fun of others. It's very wrong and I hope that this world will continue to educate themselves more on these conditions and what those that have to go through them have to deal with everyday. Perhaps then they will learn to use the words appropriately.
Great article. I never thought of it that way, but now I'm hearing it everywhere. Just keeping a neat desk makes people say you are "so OCD". Have you read the book? I think I want to check it out.
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