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OCD is horribly misrepresented in the media. Emma Pillsbury, Monica Geller, and Adrian Monk are depictions of stereotypical OCD behaviors rather than representations of actual people with OCD. So here’s a thread about what it’s actually like to live with it:
Let me start by being blunt: OCD fucking sucks. It’s legitimately the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. I would not wish it on my worst enemies. I mean that sincerely.
Intrusive thoughts are an absolute nightmare. An OCD intrusive thought is a persistent, anxiety provoking obsession. It’s like getting a song stuck in your head, but instead of a song, it’s a mixtape of your worst fears on repeat
OCD intrusive thoughts are ego dystonic, which means they don’t align with your values. ‘What if I accidentally poison my family?’ ‘What if I take this knife and stab my partner in the back?’ ‘What if I drove my car off a cliff right now?’
The fact that they’re ego dystonic makes them terrifying to share with anybody. Because what if they take you seriously? What if they confuse your worst fears with your legitimate values or intentions? It’s petrifying
Compulsions are compulsive attempts to get rid of your intrusive thoughts. Ex: I’m scared of getting sick, so I wash my hands. But doing compulsions only makes your OCD worse! So why do you do them? Because OCD is a tricky son of a bitch.
It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s miserable. Your compulsions relieve your anxiety momentarily, but the thoughts always come back worse. So you do another compulsion. And your anxiety gets even worse. And so on and so on and so on.
Hiding your OCD in public is a bitch, especially when you have overt compulsions like tapping or blinking. You know that hypothetically you could just stop, but you can’t. It’s too risky. So you find ways to mask your compulsions. You make up excuses.
And that making excuses is exhausting. All of it is exhausting: the obsessions and the compulsions and the hiding and the fear of judgement. And since it’s so hard to open up about OCD symptoms, some people go decades undiagnosed.
You can get depressed. The more that OCD takes over your life, the more depressed you get. Because when you’re spending all day obsessing and compulsing, you’re not really living your life. And that's devastating.
The point of this thread isn’t to be a total bummer. The point of this thread is to educate. Because keeping your mental illness to yourself is hard, but stigma can make speaking up even harder.
Do you know how frustrating it is to finally work up the courage to disclose your OCD, only to be told, “oh, we’re all a little OCD”? It’s awful. And the possibility of being dismissed discourages people in need of help from reaching out.
If you’re experiencing these symptoms, you’re not alone. You’re not broken. Help is out there. And in the meantime, my DMs are always open.
Edit: Monica was never ‘diagnosed’ with ocd, but it was insinuated. I’m not trying to diagnose fictional characters, y’all. And that’s not the point of the thread
I am so, so glad this thread is resonating with everyone. It will be impossible to get to everyone’s DMs, so if y’all have questions, comments, concerns about ocd please comment them below this tweet and I’ll answer them all in a thread!!
