pleaEducation is the key to everything. Whether it be getting your college defeee or just simply learning about something you find interesting, educating yourself is the first step to a better life. When I was at Rogers this year, my treatment team made a huge effort to educate me and the other patients all about our OCD and coping skills that could help with it.
During my time at Rogers' partial OCD hospitalization program in September, I was shown this incredible speech that completely opened my eyes to how debilitating OCD can be for other people. I knew how it affected me at my lowest (wanting to die, not wanting to get out of bed or be awake, feeling like my anxiety ruled me), but it was amazing to hear the speaker in the video talk about how his battle with OCD affected him. I remember going back to my hotel room after the treatment day was over and immediately telling my mom and my fiancé to watch the speech because it was so moving.
One of the greatest reasons this particular speech gave me such hope was because the speaker talked about how he was in recovery for several years and was still doing well. I saw so many patients at Rogers on their second, third, or even fourth round of treatment. It was very hard for me to watch sometimes because I didn't want to be in and out of the hospital all of my life. I do realize it is better to ask for help than to struggle, but I was determined to beat the odds and fight this disorder like I had never fought before. Seeing someone talking in front of a humongous audience about how he prevented relapse after a horrific battle made me so hopeful and happy.
Finally, this speech made me happy because unlike me most people with OCD are too scared to talk about their disorder publicly. OCD has turned into a sort of trend nowadays where people use the term loosely and it loses its meaning. Trying to explain that you have OCD to people can be difficult and no one will ever truly understand it if they don't have it. Most people with OCD choose to cover it up in fear that they will be judged or misunderstood. That is why I am putting my story out there and trying to educate the public on this traumatic disease. The best thing you can do to help is to educate yourself. This disorder needs to be taken seriously because as you will see in this speech, it has the ability to ruin lives and take them.
Please take the time to watch this incredible speech (it is only 45 minutes long) and I promise you that you will not be sorry you took the time to better understand others with OCD.
During my time at Rogers' partial OCD hospitalization program in September, I was shown this incredible speech that completely opened my eyes to how debilitating OCD can be for other people. I knew how it affected me at my lowest (wanting to die, not wanting to get out of bed or be awake, feeling like my anxiety ruled me), but it was amazing to hear the speaker in the video talk about how his battle with OCD affected him. I remember going back to my hotel room after the treatment day was over and immediately telling my mom and my fiancé to watch the speech because it was so moving.
One of the greatest reasons this particular speech gave me such hope was because the speaker talked about how he was in recovery for several years and was still doing well. I saw so many patients at Rogers on their second, third, or even fourth round of treatment. It was very hard for me to watch sometimes because I didn't want to be in and out of the hospital all of my life. I do realize it is better to ask for help than to struggle, but I was determined to beat the odds and fight this disorder like I had never fought before. Seeing someone talking in front of a humongous audience about how he prevented relapse after a horrific battle made me so hopeful and happy.
Finally, this speech made me happy because unlike me most people with OCD are too scared to talk about their disorder publicly. OCD has turned into a sort of trend nowadays where people use the term loosely and it loses its meaning. Trying to explain that you have OCD to people can be difficult and no one will ever truly understand it if they don't have it. Most people with OCD choose to cover it up in fear that they will be judged or misunderstood. That is why I am putting my story out there and trying to educate the public on this traumatic disease. The best thing you can do to help is to educate yourself. This disorder needs to be taken seriously because as you will see in this speech, it has the ability to ruin lives and take them.
Please take the time to watch this incredible speech (it is only 45 minutes long) and I promise you that you will not be sorry you took the time to better understand others with OCD.