So I'm mental. Let's talk about it.

twosips said:
Just want to say thanks for this article mate. It was great, and personally, I felt like I needed to read this. Cheers - genuinely. I've had a spell in the past month or so where I've felt pretty anxious/lost/confused/lacking direction, and this really put things into perspective for me. When I think about it, i'm okay really, and i'm a lucky bastard too. I've never really understood OCD, mainly because I've never taken any time to look into it in any great detail, and this is really fascinating insight into how it affects people. Takes a shit load of courage to put this out on the internet, but if it sows one seed for someone else, like Ste's article did, then it was worth it. Thanks for explaining it all and all the best with living with this.
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Cheers everyone.

We're all lucky bastards in some way. My OCD is focused around becoming ill - there are people out there who have obsessions about murdering someone or assaulting children. This doesn't mean they want to murder someone or rape kids, in fact they're disgusted by the idea, but they think their compulsions distract them from that. Well, they intellectually understand that they aren't violent or paedophiles but if you thought that counting to 1212 in 11s in your head would definitely prevent it then you'd probably get good at your eleven times table.

I'm in the "Yeah this is shit but kinda funny" bit. It fucks up my life but I can talk about it. Those guys are in the much more severe place where explaining their OCD is much more difficult.

We're all lucky in different ways, and just because they are in an even more difficult position doesn't make my position any less shit, any more than not being in my position makes your mental health any less shit.

Comparatively measuring with the "I'm fine because this guy has got real problems" attitude is honestly what took me so long to get on top of it. I beat myself up a lot as being dramatic, downplayed my issues, etc.

If you're feeling a bit lost mate then talking to someone is always a good idea. There's nothing to lose.

Give this a look over

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stres...y-or-counselling/?tabname=what-you-can-do-now
 
bobmcfc said:
have a habit of repeatedly pressing the lock function on my car key fob on my way through the car park into my work. I don’t know why I do it but I get quite anxious if I don’t check and double check.
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Checking locks is a common presentation of OCD. Obviously this doesn't mean that everybody who checks locks has OCD.

At its root, it is an anxiety condition. You do the thing that makes you not anxious and if you don't do them then your anxiety soars.

I often double and triple check locked doors in my house even when I know they're locked. There's no real reason for this, it's just something that makes me sleep better. There's been days where I've locked up, hone to sleep, spent all day in the house, and still have to double check the doors are locked before sleeping. Just in case.
 
Brilliantly written, Damocles. Have you thought about writing a blog? I'm sure your knowledge, experience and exceptional writing skills will encourage and inspire many sufferers and non-sufferers to better understand a subject that the vast majority don't see past the cliches.
 
Good write up mate. My missus has anxiety and demonstrates a lot of OCD, but i believe it runs in her family from her dads side, so not sure if it is nurture or nature? Her dad used to make the kids take off their shoes before they came in the house and if they didn't, he would clean the whole floor and disinfect it. If the kids got a little wet, they would have to change their whole outfit as he hated it.

She also has a crazy fear of cats, when i say crazy i mean hysterical to the point i couldn't trust her to take the baby out in the stroller in case a cat came and she just left the baby and ran or just closed her eyes and started screaming! Of recent years her OCD is pretty much around cleaning and being germ free, it has toned down somewhat as she didn't even allow our daughter to play on the beach because she would get sand on her but since she suffered severe post natal depression after our second baby she has been on meds that has helped a lot. But she has routines that she HAS to do otherwise she is in panic stations, like cleaning the kitchen even if we haven't even been home as it has to sparkle, hoovering the whole house, those kind of things. I've learnt to live with it and try and help her through them rather than pressure her into thinking she'd mad. She see's specialists for her depression and anxiety and that all helps too.
 
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings Damocles and others (including Ste Tudor). I suppose we all come into contact with mental illness in some form or other, and to smaller or greater degree. I've recently been moved by the advert where a bloke asks a mate how he is, and then rather than accepting the normal mate's dismissal of 'yeah, everything's OK thanks', he asks him again. It's an important lesson we men need to learn.
 
Despite all he's done for the site, I've generally avoided @Damocles because he always seemed like he knows better than you, and could argue in an empty room.

So Damo, seeing your "internet you" stripped away and exposing a vulnerable person was quite humbling really, and made me feel bad about myself!

Superbly written though, can't begin to imagine what each day has the potential to be like for you.

Cap well and truly d'offed.
 
Damocles said:
Inspired by an article wrote by @Lucky Toma a little while back and Mental Health Awareness campaign, I wrote about living with OCD.

Article is here

http://www.thedaisycutter.co.uk/2018/10/im-mental-lets-talk-life-ocd/

I'm pretty sure I've heard them all so feel free to get them out of your system.

In seriousness, I'm pretty nervous about this as I'm an obsessively private person at the best of times so if you could not be bastards about this then that would be great.

The article covers what OCD is, how it works, how it affects my life and is an attempt to have the same impact on somebody out there that Stes article did with me.
Click to expand...
Excellent article which I am sure will have struck a chord with many and the more this sort of stuff can be put out there, the better. At the risk of sounding vaguely serious, I don't know if you have already tried them but there are a good few OCD support groups out there. Assuming you live around Manchester, there is one in Manchester (Salford), plus others scattered about (Bolton, Wythenshawe, Macclesfield, Blackburn) plus a variety of on-line support groups (BlueMoon not listed...).
You also sound like a possible candidiate for CBT, which is now having some excellent results.
Anyway, good luck with it, however it turns out and remember, you are not 'mental' just maybe a little different from the norm (whatever that is...........)
 
Damocles said:
Cheers everyone.

We're all lucky bastards in some way. My OCD is focused around becoming ill - there are people out there who have obsessions about murdering someone or assaulting children. This doesn't mean they want to murder someone or rape kids, in fact they're disgusted by the idea, but they think their compulsions distract them from that. Well, they intellectually understand that they aren't violent or paedophiles but if you thought that counting to 1212 in 11s in your head would definitely prevent it then you'd probably get good at your eleven times table.

I'm in the "Yeah this is shit but kinda funny" bit. It fucks up my life but I can talk about it. Those guys are in the much more severe place where explaining their OCD is much more difficult.

We're all lucky in different ways, and just because they are in an even more difficult position doesn't make my position any less shit, any more than not being in my position makes your mental health any less shit.

Comparatively measuring with the "I'm fine because this guy has got real problems" attitude is honestly what took me so long to get on top of it. I beat myself up a lot as being dramatic, downplayed my issues, etc.

If you're feeling a bit lost mate then talking to someone is always a good idea. There's nothing to lose.

Give this a look over

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stres...y-or-counselling/?tabname=what-you-can-do-now
Click to expand...
Counting to 1212 in 11s wouldn't work. 1210 would.
I can be obsessively pedantic which can annoy people.
 
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