How do you cope with OCD?

[Admin]

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a debilitating condition which many people seem to dismiss as irrelevant. Unless you have been there and felt the pain of an OCD it is difficult to comprehend exactly what goes through a sufferer's mind and how they control this. We would welcome views and comments from those who have suffered, or are still suffering, from OCD and what advice they would give to others.

 

[Mark]

While I myself do not suffer from OCD I have seen friends in the grip of this extremely distressing condition. OCD in its most extreme form can be physically painful to watch and I have the utmost sympathy for those suffering from this particular condition. Thankfully there is more and more help out there today and it would be interesting to hear from those who have undertaken various treatments. Have they been successful? Have they changed your life?

 

[S0ph13]

Obsessive compulsive eating in particular is something that is so difficult to overcome and unfortunately treatment is not as accessible as it should be. The one thing that actually helped me was an online forum. A person had posted what he did to overcome binge eating.

He observed himself for two months and wrote down things he did every day and started to notice his triggers. I found that many of them were the same as mine, things such as not having slept well or having a binge the day before increase the likelihood of another binge.
He then made a chart with all of these triggers and everyday he would tick next to the triggers that were relevant to that day and if there were over 7 ticks he was on red alert for that day.

This kind of awareness makes it much easier to overcome something and I would think it would help with some other obsessive disorders.

 

[kelbel]

I remember seeing a lot of things in the press about Gazza (the footballer) suffering with OCD over the years. I saw him being interviewed on TV about it and he was quite open about it and took a comedic approach. I specifically remember him saying once that he was really late getting to training once, and he turned up saying "sorry I'm late, I've been touching the front door for 20 minutes". He had a right old giggle at himself and i remember thinking fair play to him for handling it like that.

I think more people have elements of obsessive thinking that they realise. Most of us 'over think' or 'over worry' about situations.

 

[Jade]

I used to struggle with my eating habits and that resulted in a bit of OCD. I have over-come that now through councilling but some OCD traits still remain. For example I can’t have some of my food touching, I have to have different plates for different food groups.I have to leave something on my plate even if I’m still not full and if I’m preparing a salad or putting fruit into a bowl it has to be in perfect symmetry. Even if i take an apple from the fruit bowl I will have to re-arrange the fruit around so there is no space where the apple was. These things are left over from when I implemented certain food rituals around my eating and I can’t seem to break them. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.