Living with OCD

I remember the situation like it was yesterday. After finally realizing my mental turmoil had a name, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), I desperately

I've been a licensed clinical social worker for about 25 years and have done a lot of different things in many different settings. A big focus has been

When I was in college, I decided my path was to pursue a career in counseling. I was drawn to counseling because I'd received it as a teen, and it had a

I'm not exaggerating when I say that my OCD became so debilitating that I almost gave up on myself and took my own life. I think that people outside of

My dad had Complex PTSD by the time he was nine years old. At that point, he had already escaped from a cult with his mom and survived torturous abuse. As

Like a lot of people in the OCD community, I lived with OCD for a long time before being properly diagnosed. By the time I did get that life-changing

If you’ve ever tried not to think about something, you probably know how difficult it is to control your own thoughts—especially when they’re embarrassing

I can vividly recall the event that led to me finally getting help for what I later learned was OCD. I was an undergrad. I was standing on top of a

Allison, a 35-year-old from the Midwest, was working at a state fair when she realized she'd forgotten something important in her car. She froze. It would

Let's begin on a positive note: it's great that your insurance will cover some or even all of your sessions because, frankly, it hasn't always been that

While I was only diagnosed with OCD relatively recently, I always knew there was something different about the way my mind worked. I just didn't have a

I have always been very anxious. I come from a high-strung home where there were a lot of expectations and rules. It wasn't until I went away to college

We usually start to see OCD behaviors in children at about eight years of age. My mom first noticed mine at around four or five—which is a lot younger

I’ve never experienced anything more crushing than a day filled with OCD intrusive thoughts. It’s a feeling that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. You

Dear NOCD Community, On this Thanksgiving Day, I’d like to share my sincerest appreciation for each of you, as well as wish you a very happy beginning to

I think it's fair to say that many can relate to the holidays being both a time of joy—and stress.  We pin so much on this multi-week period of

This article is part of a series in which OCD specialists talk about their personal experience of OCD and the ways in which that experience informs their

I think I've always been an anxious person. I was afraid to meet new people; I was scared to go to school. But rather than avoiding the situations that

Virtually everyone experiences sleepless nights every now and then. However, research has shown that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Doubting whether you have OCD is commonplace in the OCD community. OCD specialists are very familiar with how this particular doubt can stop people from