Asking For Help Changed My Life
By: James Poultney from Derby, England
Although I didn't know it until age 25, I have lived with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) since I was around 10 years old. I used to perform compulsions such as opening and closing windows, repeating "good thoughts" and repeating behaviors "until things felt right".
It was mainly night time when my rituals would really present themselves. I didn't really understand why I felt compelled to perform these behaviors, but I knew that I had to do them or else something awful was going to happen. It felt like a really lonely place to be because I was convinced that I was the only person in the world to have this strange behavior.
My teenage and University years came and I still had problems with outward compulsions. However, these reduced drastically and my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) focused more on internal ruminations, mainly related to health problems that I didn't have but felt that I may have had. These...