OCD Awareness Week 9th-15th October 2016

This past year has been mostly OCD-free for me which is AMAZING. It still flares up with certain triggers and I'm still navigating around OCD medication but in general my life is so different to when I really suffered.

Raising awareness of this mental health condition, however, will always be close to my heart, a) having experienced the painful reality of it first hand and b) seeing the term still being misused and misunderstood all over the media. Just yesterday the TV show 'New Girl' referenced OCD as an adjective: 'little bit OCD', numerous celebrity tweets this year have done the same and don't get me started on those 'How OCD are you?' quizzes on facebook...

There has been progress in the world of publishing, I believe. Holly Bourne's Am I Normal Yet? includes one of the most accurate portrayals of contamination OCD I have read and Patrick Ness' The Rest of Us Just Live Here portays the 'loop' cycles of OCD in one character.

I have written previous posts on what Obessive Complusive Disorder is and how I was affected (links below) so I won't repeat them. But I will say that before you reference it as a quirk or adjective or see it referenced as such, please know that is is not a joke but a serious and debilitating mental health condition. For example, when I was suffering badly with OCD, I couldn't even leave the house sometimes a) for fear I would contaminate other people with germs or b) without regimented ritual numbered checks that could take ages to complete.

OCD and mental health charities and individual bloggers are doing brilliant work online and through social media raising awareness about this condition. OCD is a serious disorder. But treatments exist and doctors and therapists are there to help you with OCD should you need.



My blog post for OCD Awareness Week 2015 (including helpful links): ocd-awareness-week-2015