Category: The Story
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Feeling “Better”?
After repeated encouragement from my therapist to seek out medication options, I, finally, made an appointment with a psychiatrist. Here we go again… A new office, a new face and a whole lot of anxiety. The psychiatrist was male, so I was extremely wary. To my surprise, he was kind and professional. At the conclusion…
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“First is the Worse, Second is the Best…”
Although I was still a student I refused to go back to the campus medical center. My insurance company assisted with finding a local female therapist who, according to them, treated everything from anxiety, OCD and panic to depression, Bipolar and PTSD. Eureka! Had I found the one this time? I arrived to a small,…
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“Ring…Ring…Ring”
While taking a break from the therapist search, my OCD and anxiety festered. My perfectionism was at an all time high. It was evident in my schoolwork, extracurricular activities, employment and environment. I would do ANYTHING to appease EVERYONE around me. My parents, friends, coworkers, and professors, all at the expense of my sanity. I…
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“Who Is This Guy”
I arrived for my appointment ready for change. I was eager and willing to work. Following check-in, I was escorted to an office, where I found an older gentleman sitting behind a desk. He welcomed me, with a smile, and asked if I wanted to have a seat, motioning to a chair directly across from…
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“Hunting For Help”
Finding appropriate treatment for OCD is equatable to seeking a needle, a very, very small one, in a haystack. There are millions of mental health providers out there, however, very few are properly trained to treat OCD. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a must as it has shown great success, over the last few…
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“ABCD…ERP”
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is a type of CBT, considered to be the first-line psychotherapy for OCD. The “exposure” refers to purposefully exposing yourself to intrusive thoughts,…
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“Pure O”
Purely Obsessional OCD, also known as Pure O, is a subtype of OCD that’s characterized by intrusive thoughts, images or urges, generally centered on themes of harm, relationships, sexuality and religious or moral questions with, primarily, mental compulsions. My Pure O intrusive thoughts include relationship and morality themes and my compulsions include avoidance, analyzing and…
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“I’m Sooo OCD!”
A common phrase used to describe normal cleaning and organizing behavior and a far reach from the experiences had by those struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) defines OCD as a “mental health disorder that occurs when a person gets caught in a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are…
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The Beginning…
Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back there were signs, but mental health was drowning in stigmas and access to resources were limited. It was 1994 and I was 8 years old attending the third grade. I was commended by my teachers, parents and peers for being “neat”, “organized”, “perfect” and “specific”, just to name a…
Smashing Stigmas 