So, I have OCD

I've been on medical leave from work and am in an intensive program that specializes in treatment of OCD. I'm not ashamed of it, and I want people to understand OCD better.

Six months ago I received a diagnosis of OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder. Getting this diagnosis has been hugely helpful to me in understanding my lived experience since roughly age 11.

For those who aren't familiar with OCD, it's not usually depicted accurately in the media. Stereotyped images of people compulsively washing their hands 100s of times a day, endlessly rearranging things on their desk or being intense germophobes depict a few of the many different kinds of obsessions and compulsions that people with OCD have, but these popular media representations leave out the literally thousands of other varieties of unwanted intrusive thoughts and time-consuming compulsions that grip people with OCD. These popular portrayals also tend to present OCD as a funny personality quirk, when in reality OCD is a debilitating mental illness that causes enormous fear, anxiety and suffering that can become unmanageable.

For good resources and explanations of OCD, visit the online home of the …