Greetings bugs and worms!
This comic is a little different than what I usually do but I worked real hard on it—Maybe I'll make more infographic stuff in the future this ended up being fun. Hope you learned something new :)
If you are still curious and want to learn more about OCD, you can visit the International OCD Foundation's website. I also recommend this amazing TED ED video "Starving The Monster", which was my first introduction to the disorder and this video by John Green about his own experience with OCD.
The IOCDF's website can also help you find support groups, therapy, and has lots of online guides and resources as well if you or a loved one is struggling with the disorder. It is very comprehensive!
Reblog to teach your followers about OCD
(But also not reblogging doesn't make you evil, silly goose)
Oh please, please spread information about this. It's so goddamn important.
I was diagnosed with OCD in December 2021, and it was a living hell. It's nothing like the pop culture representation of it. It was, without question, the worst experience of my life. OCD is a nightmare to have.
Those feelings you have when something horrible happens? Imagine having those feelings day in and day out, because in your mind, those horrible things are being constantly thought about as a very real threat. Your mind tells you to do the compulsion, or they'll come true.
The compulsions aren't something we like doing. The comic is so right about this. You could be rearranging your room a hundred times to get it exactly right because it makes you happy, and still not have OCD. The compulsions are born out of fear, that started rational and then devolved into things that don't make sense at all.
Because I was a psychology student and I'm someone who pays close attention to my mental state, I noticed the horrifying change in my behaviour and forced my family to take me to see a psychologist within a couple of months of symptom onset.
It's been more than two years of medication and therapy, and the OCD doesn't paralyse me anymore the way it used to. Most days, I barely remember it's there, sleeping in my brain and dormant. Treatment is possible, and I'm proof of it.
This is because I saw something was wrong and got help.
But even being a psychology student, until I got the diagnosis, I didn't even consider it might be OCD. I just knew something was off.
Why didn't I think of OCD? Because of the sheer volume of misinformation that's spread about this disorder.
I don't want other OCD sufferers to not seek help simply because of this popular misunderstanding about what the disorder is. So yeah. Please go through the comic, it explains it wonderfully.
As someone who recently discovered I had OCD, this is incredibly helpful. I’ve been dealing with the fear obsessions for a long time, often thinking it was just part of my ADHD. I never realized it might be OCD, I always thought of it, as mentioned, as the “must be symmetrical” type thing. I have yet to properly start medication as I not even officially diagnosed yet (only unofficially) but just knowing what it is is a bit helpful.
The obsessions and compulsions have had me crippled for a long time, at least now I don’t have the fear of not knowing why I was always like this.
