Living with OCD

Do you speak freely with some people in your life, but find it impossible to utter a word around others? Selective mutism (also called situational mutism)

If you struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), it’s easy to feel alone. You might even think that OCD is a curse—something that will inevitably

Relationships are complex, period. Throw obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) into the mix, and you’ve got even more to navigate. As one NOCD community

Just two years into her comedy career, Kristy Quinn has already shared the stage with some of the biggest names in comedy: Tiffany Haddish, Bobby Lee,

Summer’s arrival is often eagerly anticipated by kids. As the school year comes to a close, many children count down the days until they’ll have more free

In theory, we know we should take care of ourselves. But in real life, stressors come fast, from all directions: work, life at home, bad news online,

You deserve a life filled with an abundance of health and happiness. Mental health and self-care play a key role in making that a reality.  Yet, 55%

You leave a dinner party and can’t stop mentally replaying that one interaction you had—did you offend this person? You finally get into bed to relax and

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) can be debilitating—for the person who has it, of course, but even for others who are close to them. You might be at a

If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Dillon Tucker’s struggle will be a familiar one: He went to talk therapy when he started experiencing

I knew ERP worked, after all, it helped me so much in the past. I knew I just needed to put the difficult work in and keep forging ahead.

I always thought that if I didn’t feel like I wanted to do something, leave the house, or do something that I had maybe previously enjoyed doing, it was me making that choice. Now I can clearly decipher the difference between me wanting or not wanting to do something versus the OCD telling me I shouldn’t do something. I don’t need to let OCD run my life...

Seemingly overnight, these thoughts became more and more intense. I was consumed with guilt over them. It snowballed into experiencing unwanted thoughts about harming my family; the people that I loved the most in the world. I knew I had to tell my wife. I needed to seek help.

My family was surprised when they learned of my OCD diagnosis, I didn’t have the stereotypical signs of OCD. I didn’t wash my hands for countless hours, I wasn’t someone who was super organized. To look at me, you would not suspect all of the turmoil that went on in my mind. This is one of the most frustrating parts of this disorder, people do not often understand the mental compulsions. Many people just see the physical compulsions and don’t really understand the “why” behind the compulsions. I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as mental compulsions.

The uncertainty I’d spent my whole life running from now feels exciting and liberating. I don’t need to know “for sure” before I move my feet. I GET TO MAKE MISTAKES. And that’s horrible and amazing all at the same time.

Something that has helped me along the way is no matter the content of the intrusive thought/feeling, I will ask myself “and then what”....you see, the story must go on. Play it out. Play out the worst case scenario. And then what happens… it always comes back to I just don’t like how it feels, and we know that life will go on.

I don’t remember a life before my OCD showed up, as some of my earliest memories involve (what I now know are) obsessions and compulsions. I remember being early school-age and feeling different from everyone else around me.

My life was going great. I was an award-winning college quarterback with a bright future ahead of me. But then OCD came out of nowhere and derailed everything.