Incertus

I came across this terrific blog post on what it is like to have OCD. Complete with video.

Ever Wonder What Having OCD is Like? « Galvanized
I know the age it started because I remember well a pivotal moment when, having handled something particularly disgusting as a child (someone else’s used Kleenex, I think), I mentally freaked out as my brother told me, “You know, no matter how many times you wash your hands in your lifetime, there will always be some little atom of ‘that’ still on your skin.”

I have never thought about it before but I wonder how many of us can remember the exact moment our OCD became manifest? I know I can. After what I experienced as a child, following a fairly typical pattern my OCD went away for awhile. Not completely - but way to the background. I was 20 when it returned and I can tell you the exact day, the time and exactly what I was doing when it re-emerged. And in that moment everything in my life changed and not for the better.

In any case go read the post.

This is a real nice article on OCD. It’s good to read something about OCD in the mainstream media that doesn’t emphasis the more uh, unusual aspects of this disorder. It’s a pretty good summary of what OCD is and where it comes from and it’s treatment. At least as to the current understanding of it all. Go read it.

When Worry Hijacks The Brain - TIME
We all think we know what OCD is, and most of the time we’re all wrong. It’s the nervous guy from Monk; it’s cranky Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets. In the end, though, things usually work out for them. They even get the girl, who sees them as a kind of adorable emotional fixer-upper.

But OCD isn’t adorable. About 7 million adults, teens and children in the U.S. are now thought to have it in one form or another, and their pain is far worse than you probably know.

Here is a nice Q & A on OCD, in the Houston Chronicle (the annual OCF conference is going on there this week)

Analyzing what is, isn’t OCD | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Q: What is OCD?

A: Most people have some sort of quirks, but people who suffer from OCD have intrusive thoughts they can’t get out of their heads, thoughts that result in behaviors and rituals that they repeat obsessively. If you have a little quirk here or there, that’s not what we’re talking about.

Yeah. What he said. There is more, go read the rest.

U of M study identifies medication that helps people with obsessive-compulsive disorder
The drug, D-Cycloserine, is believed to help accelerate “extinction learning.” On a basic level, people associate positive or negative feelings with various cues from the external world. Behavioral therapy attempts to help the person disassociate problematic reactions that are either positive (e.g., craving to use an addictive substance) or negative (e.g., fear of some catastrophic outcome) from the cues that trigger these feelings.

Apparently this medication was developed to treat tuberculosis. Interesting hey?

Heh!