Hi guys, I've been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and a (quite light) OCD. One of my passion is writing and I would like my next short story to be about a character living with severe OCD. Does anyone have any testimonies, advice or things they'd like to share? Thank you :)

Hi Laelia, from my experience, I would say that other illnesses and issues do arise from OCD such as depression and anxiety as well as eating disorders. OCD isn’t ‘curable’ so I think a main part is accepting that this is something that we have to live with and learn to cope with (this isn’t always an easy thing to accept). In my case I had very mixed reactions. My relatives (mainly my parents) weren’t accepting at all to being with and thought that I was making it up for attention; this was very upsetting and challenging. My friends and form tutor were much more understanding and willing to help. My parents only came on board once I saw a doctor. In terms of CBT I wouldn’t know much about it as I am only in the very early stages of it. I was diagnosed at 14 (I’m now 15) but I reckon it’s something I’ve had for my whole life. I can link back my main obsession (heath concern along with contamination) to the age of 8. In terms of clichés to avoid I would say that it would be more unique and interesting if your characters main obsessions didn’t focus around contamination OCD, but of course it’s up to you and what you find easiest to write about . Hope this helps and if you have any more questions I’m definitely up for answering them. ?

Thank you so much this detailed answer is going to be useful to me :) Yes I was also thinking about avoiding contamination OCD

I'd also like to know if you can identify reasons / background / starting point for your OCD

As an avid writer myself, I’d be interested in helping.

Thank you MillieB

Is there anything in particular that you’d like to know?

Let me think about it... For the moment I have no plot nor character ha ha For my research phase, I'm just trying to add more diversity than my own small experience of OCD. I try to browse legit resources but I guess nothing is better than actual testimony I love developing my characters and I was wondering if many people can identify background for their OCD. I know I have one for anxiety and I know which, but again my own experience is not enough I'd also like to know if people tend to cumulate symptoms, such as eating disorders, along with it. From what I ve seen here many suffer from insomnia, for instance Also would like to know if CBT truly helps, I've seen everything and its contrary about this topic I need also to get a grasp of how it feels in the body and mind, again I know for myself but it's not sufficient Do people tend to "live with it", "cure it", "get rid of it"? What's their attitude towards that? How do relatives react? Does make it hard to maintain a relationship? Finally, when I write about these kinds of issues I'm wondering what's offensive or not, which clichés to avoid and so on Sorry very long text, I'm just trying to cast a maximum of ideas so that if at least one question is answered, that would be good ?