im doing a psychology project on OCD
- Locked due to inactivity on Jun 11, '18 3:54am
Thread Topic: im doing a psychology project on OCD
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Itll only be a few questions. Let me know if youre interested! Also, this probably belongs in the study and im sorry for that but im in a bit of a pinch and wanted to post it where a lot of people would see it. Thanks.
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oh man, i was not aware that autocorrect doesnt work on this website, forgive the lack of punctuation and the wrong too up there lmao
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I haven't been diagnosed because I don't like going to the doctors and I don't want them to be like "here take these pills," but I know that I have OCD, and I'm more than willing to share what it's like.
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Alright, that works! Here, let me type out some questions really quick :)
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1. How old are you, and how long have you been aware that youre suffering from OCD in specific? What led you to realize?
2. What is it like for you? How would you describe your experience to someone who doesnt have OCD?
3. Do you think that the media represents OCD accurately? If not, are there stereotypes that you see as harmful?
4. Have you sought any treatment? If so, what is it like? If not, have you tried doing anything to cope on your own?
5. What would you want someone who doesnt have this disorder to know about you and your experience in order to better understand it?
Thank you! -
1) I'm 21, and I've been aware that I've had OCD since I was about ten maybe? I can't remember exactly how old I was when I first realized. In the house that I grew up in, there were two floors, and when you walk down the stairs there's a part where both sides of the stairs are walls but then one side cuts off and you can touch the ceiling in the hallway. So it started by every time I would walk down the stairs, I'd have to tap the ceiling and then tap the wall. Every single time. If my hands were full, then I'd use my nose, or elbow if I could. I just always had to hit it. And then I started doing the even number thing for the volume (except 5s are okay too)and then everything just started happening from there.
2) It's frustrating. I can't leave my room unless if I have my rings on and a necklace on. I don't care how late I am, I can't leave until I'm wearing all of them. There was a period where I could leave my house until I made sure that everything was unplugged because I was afraid that it would catch on fire and then my dogs would die (I'm not like that anymore because I don't live at home right now, but when I go back home, then I unplug everything again). I start to panic and sometimes I'll start crying because it's just a frustrating thing to have. I should be able to leave my house without checking four times to make sure everything is unplugged. Even though I know that I unplugged it just a few seconds ago, I had to keep coming back into the room to make sure until I felt okay about it.
3) OCD is portrayed as being clean. It's not. It's different. I'm not a clean person, but I know where all of my stuff is. That's the other thing, I hate when people touch my stuff because then I have to sit there and straighten it and I hate knowing that someone else has touched my things because I know that they didn't put it back in the right spot, facing the right way (sorry, tangent). But I do see it as harmful because it's kind of been made as a joke. Like someone saying "oh, s/he must have OCD because they're clean." The anxiety and crying because something isn't right part of OCD isn't shown. Nor is it actually taken seriously. I have scars on my legs and shoulders/back because if a pimple pops up, then I have to pick at it. But to make that even worse, sometimes there won't even be a pimple. I'll just feel like something is there and I have to pick at it until I'm bleeding and then I go into this self hatred of "why would you do that? You know it's going to leave a mark and it's not going to look pretty. Nobody is going to like you." But I'll still do the same thing over and over again in order to not freak out.
4) No. I am very bad at taking pills and I don't want to be medicated. What I do to cope with it is well, for the volume thing, I'll turn my head and not look if someone else is changing the volume (or if I do look, I'll either tell them to hit the volume up or down one more or I'll just tell myself that I'll do it later and then in about five minutes I'll turn the volume to an even number). But other than that, there's really not much I can do about it except making sure that I get in the shower when it's an even number or look at the time on my phone to make sure that it's an even number before I can go to sleep. All I can do is make sure that I stick to doing these things because it helps me not panic.
5) I would just want them to know that you don't have to be clean in order to be OCD. While some people with OCD are clean, it's not necessarily that because they're clean they have OCD. OCD is obsessive compulsive disorder, so if washing their hands helps to calm them down, then that's what they're going to do. It's a part of their ritualistic behavior, but not every person with OCD has that same ritual. I would also like it if people could stop saying "oh I have a little OCD" if you don't actually have it and you just like being clean. If you do not get anxiety and feel like your heart is about to explode unless if you sit there for ten minutes straightening all the bottles in the shower so they're facing the same direction, or unless if you do something else, then you don't have OCD, so don't say that you do. Also, please understand that you are going to have to be patient when you have a friend that has OCD. Trust me, it's probably frustrating us more that we have to do a specific set of things than you because we know we could be making you late and that adds more stress and anxiety onto the situation. But no, there's nothing you can do to help us because if you try to help us straighten something, you're probably going to do it wrong, and we have to touch and straighten it anyways so there's no point. Just wait quietly while we do our thing. Thank you. -
Thank you so much for sharing. I really, really appreciate it.
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Yeah, no problem! Just let me know if you have any other questions.
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