when i was in middle/high i got mocked and teased for having OCD. now i’m afraid to talk about it anywhere besides here. i know that you all understand what it’s like and i appreciate all of your help and guidance, but i wish the people in my life would take it more seriously and not make me feel like an attention seeking lunatic

You are not an attention seeking lunatic what so ever! People at school are at that age where they’re immature and all see things that are different as weird as that’s the culture at that age, you all have to fit in. It’s when you grow up and go through different experiences and learn new things that you realise that not everybody is the same, you’re not always going to fit in even if you have the perfect body, a ‘sane mind’ etc. There’s always a situation, no matter how perfect someone may be, where they won’t fit in and that’s life unfortunately. Ignore them, as hard as it may be. Because OCD is manageable and fixable, small minded-ness isnt and you are a much better person than all of them and you’ll always find love and support here ?

I rarely tell anyone of my diagnosis. The only people who know are my husband, a best friend and family. Unfortunately, there is still a huge stigma out there against mental health.

Rachel, my friends at work know I have ocd but they all assume it’s the stereotyped ocd where ‘I’m scared of germs and I’m particular’ ? there’s a channel 4 programme called pure o atm and whilst I don’t have pure o I really identified with it because of the nature of the obsessions, the way it makes the character feel etc. I asked my bestfriend to watch it as an entertainment thing rather than as a ‘look this is what it’s like for me’ to see her reaction and she was horrified by it (they show the characters intrusive thoughts which are sexual). She didn’t understand that she didn’t want the thoughts they just happened, nor did she understand the intense anxiety they caused the character. She just saw her as a pervert. It upset me because I suggested it to her to see her reaction to see if she could sympathise with the character so I could get almost some reassurance from like an ‘outside’ person who doesn’t know the nature of my ocd and I got the opposite. It really upset me. But then I went on twitter and Instagram and searched the hashtag for the show and saw soooooo many ocd sufferers relating to it and non ocd people that was saying how they couldn’t believe how awful ocd can be for people and it opened their eyes to the fact that ocd isn’t just having to have things in order and washing your hands and it lifted my spirit that some awareness is being raised. Channel 4 also did a documentary a few years ago called ocd and me which followed several young adults all with varies ocds and that helped raise a lot of awareness too. I wish there was more like it to help us feel more accepted. This app is amazing for feeling accepted too

What is channel four?

Sorry I’m just assuming you’re from the UK it’s on of the channels on uk tv

Ah no. Usa