No cure but not concerned

So this is my final blog and I thought it might be helpful to reflect and what I wanted to achieve by doing them.

I guess the thing that I was concerned about is being negative. I often think that when you read the case studies in books on OCD (as excellent as some of these books are) they can be frightening because some people seem to be so consumed by their OCD. However, that too was me, when I was at my worst. I think the thing I feel they miss, and I wanted to add, is that you can recover from OCD to the point that you don’t even notice you have it! This is where I am now. Sure I still get intrusive thoughts, but so does everyone!!! I react to them differently now.

And if you are doubting how bad my OCD has been, I’ve made two suicide attempts and been in hospital for three months when I was at my worst. If you too find yourself in the depths of despair please just know that each day brings new hope and with the right treatment, you can get better.

In addition, I wanted to encourage those of you whose lives have been affected by OCD and related disorders (and hopefully also those of you who haven’t been) to get involved in making things better in future for all people suffering from mental health conditions. I know we all tut when our colleagues come around with sponsor forms for runs etc. but this is the only way that charities can work to make change. And you don’t even have to give money if you can’t afford to – do a sponsored event yourself, write to your MP, volunteer or donate your unwanted goods to the local mental health charity shop.

As a final note, I know some of you find it disconcerting that there’s no cure for OCD but you don’t need one – we’re meant to have frightening thoughts as part of an evolutionary warning system and with the help of medication or CBT you can see that they are only thoughts!

- OCD Guest Blogger 2 -