Many people may not realize that a fifth of the entire American population suffers from a mental illness called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. This sort of apathy towards knowing more about OCD may be rooted from the attitude of sufferers themselves with regards to the illness that they have. Most of the sufferers choose to keep their condition in private and refuse to submit themselves for professional treatment, out of fear of being labeled as "crazy".
In many cases, OCD has destroyed the lives of its sufferers not necessarily because of it being an illness per se but because of how sufferers deal with it. While OCD is known to be highly treatable with a lot of treatment mechanisms available publicly even, sufferers do not see the need to go to these places and be treated. A quarter of them think they can overcome the disorder all by themselves. Another quarter thinks that that professional treatment is in fact effective; however, its cost is too much to handle. Another quarter denies to themselves that they do have the illness. The last quarter comprise those who do not even know that they have the illness.
This apathy towards OCD has become a key factor why the society is taking too long to understand and accept OCD completely. The rate of increase of society's interest is slow and while it is climbing inch by inch in histograms of societal trends specialists, more and more sufferers are already killing themselves out of depression caused by their isolation from peers and people. In the first place, they isolate themselves because they thought that no one will understand them and the illness that they have.
Many OCD related suicide has been traced to root from the lack of interaction of OCD sufferers from other people. In the absence of socialization, the sufferers are left to deal with their mental condition alone. Since OCD is characterized by repetitive thoughts thereby leading to obsessions, the sufferer may become so engrossed with his or her obsessions and the ritual associated with it that when faced with even the slightest difficulty to perform the ritual perfectly, merits legitimate grounds to kill oneself already.
It is very important then that family members become active characters in the life of someone who has OCD. By encouraging the sufferer to seek for professional help without making them feel different and abnormal is very important in order to keep the sufferer on fighting. OCD is a highly treatable disease and this is all that the sufferer needs to know. There is no reason to worry about being called insane or crazy, because they are not.
Surely, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD can destroy a sufferer's life, but with the help of the people around them, this will definitely never happen.
In many cases, OCD has destroyed the lives of its sufferers not necessarily because of it being an illness per se but because of how sufferers deal with it. While OCD is known to be highly treatable with a lot of treatment mechanisms available publicly even, sufferers do not see the need to go to these places and be treated. A quarter of them think they can overcome the disorder all by themselves. Another quarter thinks that that professional treatment is in fact effective; however, its cost is too much to handle. Another quarter denies to themselves that they do have the illness. The last quarter comprise those who do not even know that they have the illness.
This apathy towards OCD has become a key factor why the society is taking too long to understand and accept OCD completely. The rate of increase of society's interest is slow and while it is climbing inch by inch in histograms of societal trends specialists, more and more sufferers are already killing themselves out of depression caused by their isolation from peers and people. In the first place, they isolate themselves because they thought that no one will understand them and the illness that they have.
Many OCD related suicide has been traced to root from the lack of interaction of OCD sufferers from other people. In the absence of socialization, the sufferers are left to deal with their mental condition alone. Since OCD is characterized by repetitive thoughts thereby leading to obsessions, the sufferer may become so engrossed with his or her obsessions and the ritual associated with it that when faced with even the slightest difficulty to perform the ritual perfectly, merits legitimate grounds to kill oneself already.
It is very important then that family members become active characters in the life of someone who has OCD. By encouraging the sufferer to seek for professional help without making them feel different and abnormal is very important in order to keep the sufferer on fighting. OCD is a highly treatable disease and this is all that the sufferer needs to know. There is no reason to worry about being called insane or crazy, because they are not.
Surely, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD can destroy a sufferer's life, but with the help of the people around them, this will definitely never happen.
About the Author:
Megan Baggel is a suicide survivor from Illinois. She attempted to kill herself after becoming spotlight in a college party and interrogated about her phobia to germs. After the incident, her family enrolled her to a CBT OCD treatment facility wherein she finally recovered from her OCD disease.
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