Living with OCD

NOCD was built by people who deeply understand the struggles and needs of people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Some of us had lived experience

Having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can feel isolating. It might seem like you’re the only one going through what you’re going through. Social

When Howie Mandel revealed he has OCD, he thought it was the end of the world.  It happened many years ago in a New York radio studio. The

As someone who grew up with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), I often reflect back on what my childhood was like and all of the ways in which OCD

Have you ever been with a group of people and heard someone exclaim, “I’m so OCD about that”? Or heard people sharing their organizational preferences

Accurate representations of your experience can be life-changing. That’s especially true for those experiences that are commonly misunderstood or

OCD can make you feel like something terrible is always around the corner. So, that frustration you feel? Perfectly normal.

Have you ever wondered if your child’s behaviors were typical fears and stresses for their age? Or noticed that they seemed more anxious than other

This is a guest post by Jackie Shapin, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specializes in anxiety, OCD, and eating disorders. There is a

It can be stressful to watch your partner suffer from a mental health condition, especially when that condition is as frequently misunderstood as

I knew ERP worked, after all, it helped me so much in the past. I knew I just needed to put the difficult work in and keep forging ahead.

I always thought that if I didn’t feel like I wanted to do something, leave the house, or do something that I had maybe previously enjoyed doing, it was me making that choice. Now I can clearly decipher the difference between me wanting or not wanting to do something versus the OCD telling me I shouldn’t do something. I don’t need to let OCD run my life...

Seemingly overnight, these thoughts became more and more intense. I was consumed with guilt over them. It snowballed into experiencing unwanted thoughts about harming my family; the people that I loved the most in the world. I knew I had to tell my wife. I needed to seek help.

My family was surprised when they learned of my OCD diagnosis, I didn’t have the stereotypical signs of OCD. I didn’t wash my hands for countless hours, I wasn’t someone who was super organized. To look at me, you would not suspect all of the turmoil that went on in my mind. This is one of the most frustrating parts of this disorder, people do not often understand the mental compulsions. Many people just see the physical compulsions and don’t really understand the “why” behind the compulsions. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as mental compulsions.

The uncertainty I’d spent my whole life running from now feels exciting and liberating. I don’t need to know “for sure” before I move my feet. I GET TO MAKE MISTAKES. And that’s horrible and amazing all at the same time.

Something that has helped me along the way is no matter the content of the intrusive thought/feeling, I will ask myself “and then what”....you see, the story must go on. Play it out. Play out the worst case scenario. And then what happens… it always comes back to I just don’t like how it feels, and we know that life will go on.

I don’t remember a life before my OCD showed up, as some of my earliest memories involve (what I now know are) obsessions and compulsions. I remember being early school-age and feeling different from everyone else around me.

My life was going great. I was an award-winning college quarterback with a bright future ahead of me. But then OCD came out of nowhere and derailed everything.