In this article on scrupulosity was the following quote.
“Without question,” says Nestadt, “people will tell you about their sex lives or criminal behavior before they’ll tell you about their OCD symptoms.”
Isn’t that the truth? One of the major reasons I put up my original website years ago was because of the fact the people with OCD tend to not seek treatment for many years even decades after knowing something is seriously wrong with them. There are many reasons for that. Of course embarrassment is one. The things we do are, after all, rather odd. Even today I believe the majority of undiagnosed OCD sufferers still think they are alone and what is wrong with them is just them. Not a treatable mental illness. And then there is of course the stigma of being diagnosed with mental illness. Or the perceived stigma. I am probably unusual but I have never, to my knowledge, been shunned by anyone or feared by anyone because I have a mental illness. Most folks in fact are rather interested in what I have. Go figure.
One Response to “Secrets”
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Matty on Sep 13 2005 at 7:04 am
Very true. I can remember reading that statistically it takes 7 years from the onset of full-blown OCD for a sufferer to get a definitive diagnosis.
I think there are two primary reasons: firstly, it’s such an insiduous mental condition that it really leaves you doubting whether you ARE ill, or whether you are simply panicking about something that’s real and you’re mentally unable to accept.
Also, the nature of some of our obsessions makes it difficult - for me, the homosexual and paedophilic OCD-created fears I have were very difficult to admit to. Especially because (and this connects to the first reason) part of OCD is that you start to believe the worst about yourself, and that there may be some truth in what you’re experiencing.
Not fun.
Hope you are well mate,
Matty