The Thing About The D

Created by Graphic Designer at Teesside University to abolish trivilisation of OCD, Pushing for wider education of the mental illness and wipe the myths surrounding Obsessive Complusive Disorder. "Leave the world a better place than you found it" #GetHeard

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Where can you get help? And what does it involve?

If you feel you need help with issues concerning OCD the best advice i can give is to approach your GP. If they believe you are in fact suffering from a form of OCD they are most likely to offer you one or both of the following treatmentsThe two main treatments are:psychological therapy – usually CBT a type of therapy that helps you face your fears and obsessive thoughts without "putting them right" with compulsionsORmedication – usually a type of antidepressant medication that can help by altering the balance of chemicals in your brain

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What do rituals involve?

I am not a medical professional so I can only speak from the research I have learned through this project however: 

Rituals tend to link with mental compulsions, Mental compulsions involve doing something in one's head in response to an obsession in order to prevent a feared outcome, or to reduce the anxiety that the obsession causes. For example, a person with religious obsessions may fear that her children will become sick if she thinks blasphemous thoughts. In response to any blasphemous thoughts or images that come to mind, she will repeat to herself a memorised prayer about the greatness of God along with requests for her children's protection.

Common mental rituals include:

Special words, images, numbers, repeated mentally to neutralize anxiety

Special prayers (short or long) repeated in a set manner

Mental counting

Mental listmaking

Mental reviewing (e.g. reviewing conversations or actions)

Mental erasing of unwanted mental images

Mental un-doing

Self-reassurance

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My Project...

To get the word out about this blog i have created a set of coffee cup sleeves with the idea of using the phrase “FOCUS”  On the other side it says "did the bubbles interrupt your day?" Followed up with People with OCD spend at least 1 hour a day on thoughts rituals or behaviors" Focus reflects to the situ like coffee helps you focus but also to do with that people with OCD focus on their compulsions like you would focus on the bubble wrap. The aim being for people to think about issues surrounding OCD, starting conversations (Over a nice cuppa) and leading to this blog to learn more and become more understanding of the mental illness.

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Myth No. 3:

Stress causes OCD. Think people with OCD should just relax and stop obsessing? Szymanski says it’s not that simple. OCD incites uncontrollable fears and anxiety — and while stressful situations can exacerbate symptoms in people with obsessive compulsive disorder, stress alone does not cause it.

- Everyday Health

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Myth No. 2:

 OCD is all about cleanliness. Sure, a fixation on keeping things clean may a common compulsion of OCD, but it’s not the only one (and not everyone with OCD has it). Other common compulsions include hoarding items, checking and rechecking that you didn’t make a mistake, fearing something bad such as a fire or accident, and repeating routines such as going in and out of a door.

- Everyday Health

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Myth No. 1:

All neat freaks have OCD. One common sign of OCD is an obsession with cleanliness — such as constantly washing your hands or excessively cleaning household items. But a cleanliness complex can also be a personality trait, says Jeff Szymanski, PhD, executive director of the International OCD Foundation and one of the world’s leading authorities on OCD. “And that’s part of the confusion. If it’s a personality trait, you have control — you can choose to do it or not. If you have obsessive compulsive disorder, you’re doing it out of unrelenting debilitating anxiety.”

- Everyday Health

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5 Times the Internet Got OCD Wrong — And Why It Matters

Step up, Internet.

PSA: Obsessive compulsive disorder is not an adjective. It’s not about being organized. It’s not about mismatching socks, Stop trivializing OCD and look at the bigger issue.

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-www.helpguide.org

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The Secret Illness is all about exploring the realities of living with OCD through the creative arts. “This Old Ghost” was developed from a poem written by James Lloyd. James is a writer and science journalist in the UK and has suffered with OCD since childhood. As it’s such a personal poem James chose to voice it himself. The animation is by filmmaker Liz Smith.

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For me, it’s an ever-present nagging feeling that something is just ‘not right.’ I can never really, truly ‘make it right.’ I have to learn to live with the all-consuming feeling of mental discomfort.

Laura McCarthy, The Mighty

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Treatments for OCD

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is indeed a chronic, but equally a very treatable, medical condition.

The treatment found to be the most effective in successfully treating OCD is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). In many cases, CBT alone is highly effective in treating OCD, but for some people a combination of CBT and medication is also effective.  Medication may reduce the anxiety enough for a person to start, and eventually succeed in therapy.

-OCD UK

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Effect on Society

One report once estimated that, on average, a person with OCD loses fully 3 years of wages over their lifetime and if an OCD sufferer incurs losses of £483.04 for every week they are absent, this would amount to a total of £75,354 due to unemployment over this 3-year period, not including lost opportunities for career advancement and the cost to families and carers over their respective working lifetimes.

-OCD UK

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Imagine all your worst thoughts as a soundtrack running through your mind 24/7, day after day.

Adam Walker Cleveland, The Mighty

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How Common is OCD?

Here in the United Kingdom current estimates suggest that 1.2% of the population will have OCD, which equates to 12 out of every 1000 people, and based on the current estimates for the UK population, these statistics mean that potentially, approximately 741,504 people are living with OCD at any one time.

-OCD UK

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The nightmare of living with OCD

Is that my blood? Is it somebody else's? What if they were HIV-positive? What if I've caught it? Science writer David Adam reveals what it's like to live with an overwhelming fear of being infected with HIV

Is that my blood? Is it somebody else's? What if they were HIV-positive? What if I've caught it? Science writer David Adam reveals what it's like to live with an overwhelming fear of being infected with HIV

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For Family, Friends and Carers

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be a terrifying illness that affects the whole family.  It can be frustrating, exhausting and scary for everyone - family, friends and carers (FFC), be they parents, siblings, spouses or children.

However, the most important thing to remember is that while Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a chronic illness, it is equally a very treatable medical condition that can certainly be overcome.  As family, friends and carers, you play a vital role in the effectiveness of that treatment and the person with OCD, your loved one, will need a great deal of support from you.

-OCD UK

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What Does OCD Feel Like?

So that hopefully goes someway to explaining to you how OCD is driven, but what does OCD feel like?  The following descriptive words have all been used to describe how OCD makes people feel at times.

Depressed

Embarrassed

Secretive

Hopeless

Frustrated

Exasperated

Debilitated

Drained

Ashamed

Bullied

Exhausted

-OCD UK