LIVING WITH OCD

Arem Bolalin

It’s so disgusting. It’s so disgusting. It’s so disgusting. It’s so disgusting. It’s so disgusting.
Check it out. Fix that. Check it out. Fix that. Check it out. Fix that. Check it out. Fix that. Check it out.
I doubt it. I doubt it. I doubt it. I doubt it. Not like that. Not like that. Not like that. Not like that.

These are just some of the thoughts repeatedly playing in the minds of people suffering from CDO. Oops. It’s actually OCD, but it looks better when alphabetically arranged. That’s how OCD feels like.

OCD is just a shorter term for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It is a chronic and long-lasting mental health disorder that is most commonly occurring in boys for childhood, but for adulthood becomes more common in women. If a person has this kind of illness, the warning system in his/her brain is probably working improperly, meaning they also suffer from anxiety most of the time although they need not.

OC—that’s how we call people with OCD. From the name itself “Obsessive Compulsive”, it is true that having this mental health problem is living through the cycle of numerous obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are the intrusive thoughts and urges that trigger intensely distressing feeling. It can be a need for perfection, symmetry and exactness, avoiding contamination and preventing to harm others. These may be all natural and normal occurrences to every human being but the difference to people with OCD is that they have it more excessively and uncontrollably. Obsessions become more destructive, starting to get in the way of important day-to-day duties. People with OCD may be pretty much aware that these thoughts are strange and have no sense at all; however, they cannot simply stop and end the anxiety.

Compulsions are the repetitive behaviors we engage in to attempt to get rid of the obsessions. It is like we do it as our counter-act, in a ritualistic and very specific way. It includes frequent washing or cleaning, checking, ordering and arranging or even mental rituals as well. People with OCD know that these compulsions are all temporary solution or escape from the annoying existence of unreasonable urges in their head. But still, they do it out of eagerness to feel mental relief even for a while.

Living with OCD is really not that easy. It feels like drowning from the unwanted, disturbing thoughts that reoccur from time to time. It creates discomfort and a deal of anxiety that they cannot run from. However, always choose courage and do not let any mental illnesses win over you.