^{WHAT EXACTLY IS THIS ILLNESS OCD?}

^{OCD is considered an anxiety disorder that, at current, affects 1 in 40. Many suffer in silence for far too long before they get help. They feel that they are going insane or that people will just not understand what they are going through. Yes, OCD is a chronic illness, very much like diabetes, but like diabetes it is manageable. We don’t have to suffer forever; there are tools out there for us so that we can have a life again}.

^{OCD has 2 parts; obsessions and compulsions.}

^{Obsessions are considered any unwanted thoughts, impulses or images that are unwanted and continue over and over again causing distress. Common obsessions are confessions, reassurance seeking, fear of harming self or others, blasphemous thoughts, violent thoughts, forbidden thoughts, having things ‘just so’ or to feel ‘just right’, unwanted sexual thoughts, having items placed ‘just so’ or unable to throw things away. Most people have these types of thoughts but whereas they will dismiss them as just a thought, those of us who suffer from OCD mistakenly believe these thoughts are who we are. These thoughts torture us daily.}

^{Compulsions are the other component of OCD and are done to cause what we feel as being a relief from the obsessions. These include counting, checking, avoidance, washing, repeating, touching, and mental rituals. We hold onto these compulsions for dear life. If we don’t wash we will become sick, or worse yet, make others sick; if we don’t recheck our doors or the coffee pot we may either get broken into or the house will burn down; if we don’t count to a certain number in certain patterns harm will come to our loved ones; and if we don’t touch something in a certain way harm will come to our best friend. Another common compulsion is avoidance, if we avoid certain people, places and things then we won’t have to deal with the pain that comes from rituals. Mental rituals are a hidden monster as well, there is not an outer ritual you can see.}

^{Flat out this illness makes no sense. Deep within us we know that what we are doing is pointless and painful yet we feel we MUST repeat these compulsions over and over again until it either feels ‘just right’ or we flop over from mental and physical exhaustion. We feel trapped in our own minds unable to escape.}

^{There is hope, OCD is treatable!!}
 

^{We can learn to live new lives free from OCD’s horrific grip, CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) and a form of it called Exposure/Response Prevention is our path to a new life.}