201.Ā A letter to you about living with OCD. Dear my friends,Author Christopher Paolini once said āWithout fear there cannot be courage.ā Iām not an author, but Iām an OCD sufferer. Iām writing today to let you know what this disease really is. And how painful it is to fight against your biggest fear every single day. Itās true courage.OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Many people think that OCD is something as simple as organizing your closet in order of color, alphabetizing your books, or straightening pencils. I see websites that say āThings that Will Drive Your OCD Self Insane,ā āInfuriating Images That Will Trigger Your OCD,ā and āPhotos That Will Freak Out Every OCD Person.ā People joke about OCD and use it as an adjective, as if it is just a feeling they get when something bothers them. However, that is not the true definition. OCD is a psychological disorder in which people experience incessant upsetting thoughts (the obsessions) that cause or trigger repetitive behaviors (the compulsions).OCD includes a variety of different symptoms. Do you turn the light switch off and on to make sure that your day is going to be all right? Do you feel like the world is going to end and it will be all your fault because you didnāt check the time fifteen thousand times? Do you wash your hands until they bleed?J.J. Keeler said that āOCD is not a disease that bothers; it is a disease that tortures.ā Obsessions are involuntary, and they are thoughts, feelings, images, or impulses, that cannot be controlled. People do not want these thoughts, but they happen anyways. These thoughts can be painful, uncomfortable, awful, and distracting.Thatās where compulsions come in. Compulsions are when you feel driven to do something continuously, and usually done, to try to make the obsessions go away.I have OCD, I'm really suffering from it, and battling it. And like I always say, that people with OCD are not freaks, they are warriors. I was at Priory last year as a freshman, but had to leave, because it is not something that is easy to live with.I started the website OCD Acceptance(ocdacceptance.com). To help the OCD community with a daily meme created by myself. Now thereās over 200 memes on the Internet and hundreds of OCD sufferers gets courage from them. Thus, I decided to release these memes as a free ebook for everyone out there.I've talked to teens committing suicides just because they keep everything to themselves. They donāt think anyone else would understand them. Thatās why I am trying my best to help them, let them know they are not alone.And that's really important, OCD sufferers should not feel alone. 2% of the teens āaroundā you suffered from OCD. Frankly, if you do know who they are, you may find them not particularly enjoy being 'aroundā you much. Teens with OCD tends to keep this as a secret, face this monster all alone. All of these mental illness leads to physical pain including panic attack or self-harm. You may not get why but without doubt, you know the pain. We need support and understanding from the society!!! We shouldnāt be ashamed or embarrassed to say our stories loud. And you shouldnāt feel uncomfortable being around us! We are not crazy, we are just different. And you shouldnāt be afraid or walk away from something different or someone different. Thereās no common sense until everyone acts to it! I canāt changed the whole world overnight, but I hope I can spread the knowledge and change as many people around me as possible. If you start to treat us with understanding and without judgements, then I just completed my goal. And I canāt appreciate you more.
