“I know my hands are clean. I know that I have touched nothing dangerous. But… I doubt my perception. Soon, if I do not wash, a mind numbing, searing anxiety will cripple me. A feeling of stickiness will begin to spread from the point of contamination and I will be lost in a place I do not want to go. So I wash until the feeling is gone, until the anxiety subsides. Then I feel defeated. So I do less and less, my world becomes smaller and smaller and more lonely by the day” (Healthy Place: OCD Community). The writer of this poem has a disease call Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In OCD, it is as though the brain gets stuck on a particular thought or urge and just can't let go. OCD can persist throughout a person’s life, gradually worsening. If not treated, OCD can drastically affect all aspects of a person’s life: work, school, friends, and family (Weiskopf).
Worries, doubts, and superstitious beliefs all are common in everyday life. However, when they become so excessive as to interrupt one’s daily life, then the diagnosis is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disorder that is not commonly heard of, but surprisingly it affects 2% of the population, more than those with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (Plexus Staff). OCD is an anxiety disorder that manifests itself through obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are unwanted, overwhelming, recurrent, and unpleasant thoughts. Dr. John R. Smith says, “ The obsessions are recurrent thoughts, which an OCD sufferer experiences as being outside their control, although they know those thoughts are coming from their own mind.” (McShane 14). A person with OCD might constantly repeat a thought in their head, which can be triggered by an external or internal object. Some common obsessions include repeated impulses to kill a loved family member, incessant worries about dirt or contamination, and recurrent thoughts about something that has...
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