Living with OCD

Battling mental illness can be exhausting, both mentally and physically. OCD symptoms can create a fatigue that seems impenetrable at times. Getting out

This is a guest post by Alegra Kastens, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who founded the Center for OCD, Anxiety, and Eating Disorders. People

Picking your skin is not a sure-fire sign of a mental health condition. Many people engage in skin picking behavior from time to time, such as when they

As a therapist, when I first meet someone new for treatment, I start by saying that discomfort and anxiety are just feelings — not unlike any other

As both a mother and a therapist who treats obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), I have been thinking a lot about all the ways in which my OCD has

As we approach the summer, many people with OCD may be planning to travel. Vacation can be a time of great anticipation and joy for many people, a time to

Rising rates of anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions indicate a pressing need for improved access and quality of behavioral health

Social media has exploded in recent years. It's become a space where opinions are shared, trends are born, and relationships are developed. We’re

You hear an awful lot about “intrusive thoughts” as one of the key components of obsessive-compulsive disorder (it’s the “obsessive” part). But did you

If someone asked you what your values are, how would you answer? Whether it’s compassion, honesty, loyalty, or kindness, our values are a fundamental

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.