MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS SERIES

Mental Health and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

14th day of May — part 1 of the May OCD series

The following story is true, only the names have been changed to protect their privacy.

When I moved away from my secure home to a distant unfamiliar home, I left behind a dear friend, Jane. We had only known each other for one year, but the bond between us was strong and we became inseparable. You could say we were kindred spirits.

One day near the beginning of our friendship, Jane mentioned that she had a son and that I really should meet him. So we arranged a get-together at her house and I met her son, John.

John and I were also kindred spirits to my complete surprise and delight! This was incredible for me. I’d never had such a bond with anyone in my entire life. But mom and son became my whole world that year. It might even be the best year of my life, so far.

In the process of building our relationship with each other, I learned a lot about Jane’s family, her past, her struggles, likes, and dislikes. I didn’t spend a lot of time with John, not because I didn’t want to, but because he has OCD and struggles with this crippling mental illness every day.

The severity of OCD can be different for each person who suffers from it. For John, it started in childhood and is so severe that he went on disability early in life.

Severity varies Source: Mayo Clinic

OCD usually begins in the teen or young adult years, but it can start in childhood. Symptoms usually begin gradually and tend to vary in severity throughout life. The types of obsessions and compulsions you experience can also change over time. Symptoms generally worsen when you experience greater stress. OCD, usually considered a lifelong disorder, can have mild to moderate symptoms or be so severe and time-consuming that it becomes disabling.

Jane and John didn’t share with me the particulars of John’s illness, but I suspect that he had at least some of these obsessive and/or compulsive symptoms of OCD.

Symptoms Source: Mayo Clinic

Obsessive-compulsive disorder usually includes both obsessions and compulsions. But it’s also possible to have only obsession symptoms or only compulsion symptoms. You may or may not realize that your obsessions and compulsions are excessive or unreasonable, but they take up a great deal of time and interfere with your daily routine and social, school or work functioning.

Examples of obsession signs and symptoms include:

Fear of being contaminated by touching objects others have touched

Doubts that you’ve locked the door or turned off the stove

Intense stress when objects aren’t orderly or facing a certain way

Images of driving your car into a crowd of people

Thoughts about shouting obscenities or acting inappropriately in public

Unpleasant sexual images

Avoidance of situations that can trigger obsessions, such as shaking hands

Examples of compulsion signs and symptoms include:

Hand-washing until your skin becomes raw

Checking doors repeatedly to make sure they’re locked

Checking the stove repeatedly to make sure it’s off

Counting in certain patterns

Silently repeating a prayer, word or phrase

Arranging your canned goods to face the same way

Jane and I never pushed John to join us, even when we planned something together. John could make plans but always with the stipulation that he could bow out at any time.

People that suffer from OCD are normal people, they have jobs, homes, families, and everything that a person wishes for fulfillment in their lives. John is no exception. But he is exceptional. He’s a caring, productive forever friend!

Thank you for reading today’s Mental Health Awareness article. Stay tuned for another tomorrow. OCD is a complex mental illness and is impossible to explore in one short article and there will be more articles about OCD to come. And in case you missed the previous articles on mental health awareness, you can find them here.

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