Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a Chronic Illness
Living with OCD is similar to living with other types of chronic illness, like diabetes, asthma or heart disease; it requires courage, support from friends, family, and co-workers, as well as a strong partnership with both medical and psychological primary supports.
As with all chronic illnesses, your focus should be on day-to-day management of your symptoms, rather than a final cure. This does not mean, however, that you have to be miserable or that you should give up on your goals. With good coping strategies and proper treatment, the majority of people with OCD live normal, fulfilling lives.
Becoming an expert on your own condition is the key to living with a chronic illness. Unlike an acute illness like a heart attack, where you can rely on health professionals to take care of you, living successfully with a chronic illness like OCD means learning the triggers that make your OCD symptoms worse, as well as discovering which coping strategies reduce your suffering and allow you to get the most out of life.
Learn as much as you can about OCD and don’t be afraid to ask your healthcare provider questions. Many people find it helpful to make a list of questions before their appointment so that they don’t forget their questions once they get there.
Reducing Stress is Essential
Stress often triggers symptoms of OCD. One way of thinking about the effect of stress is to imagine a “stress bucket.” Each of us has a stress bucket; some of us have deep buckets, while others have buckets that are quite shallow. The stress that you experience each day is like water being poured into the bucket, and because we all have different-sized buckets, some people’s buckets fill up more quickly than others. If your bucket overflows, you get wet, which can be unpleasant.
If you have OCD, your bucket might be smaller than other people’s, leaving you more prone to “overflows” when stress levels become high. When your stress bucket overflows, you might experience an increase in your OCD symptoms. An important part of successfully coping with OCD is to keep an eye on how full your stress bucket is and to empty it when the water level gets too high.
There are good ways and bad ways to empty your stress bucket. Good ways of coping with stress include:
- Proper sleep – an average of eight hours a night will do for most people.
- Frequent exercise – 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week can help reduce anxiety.
- Social support - support groups can reduce feelings of isolation. Supportive friends and family can also provide a welcome source of distraction from symptoms.
- Meditation – meditation and deep breathing exercises calm the mind and body, allowing it to recuperate from the effects of stress.
- Sticking to your treatment regimen – you’ll get the best results by coping with your symptoms everyday, instead of putting things off until they are really bad.
Poor ways of coping with stress include:
- Using alcohol or other drugs – although your symptoms might feel better temporarily, they often become worse when you stop using.
- Sweeping problems under the rug - they aren’t going anywhere and will only return stronger.
- Isolating yourself – you need the support of your friends and family to cope with OCD. Also, consider joining a support group in your community.
- Blaming yourself for your OCD – are you harder on yourself than you would be with a friend who had this illness? Practice being kind to yourself.
- Trying to control things that can't – control what you can and let the rest take care of itself. This can be hard, but it can relieve the pressure of solving all of life’s problems.
Coping With Stigma
If you have OCD, you know that the stigma attached to mental illness can make it difficult to cope. Even though it is clear that OCD, like other chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease, has biological roots, there are people who continue to believe that people challenged with mental illness should be able to “snap out of it.” This attitude can be particularly hurtful when it is held by friends, family and intimate partners.
Because mental illnesses like OCD cannot be diagnosed with a blood test or seen by others, you may have experienced the doubt that people can have about the legitimacy of your symptoms and their effect on your life. You may have even experienced discrimination at work for taking time off to cope with your illness.
Thankfully, these harmful and hurtful attitudes are starting to change. Slowly, society is accepting that mental illness is real and that its effects can be devastating not only for the person who is suffering, but for their family and friends, too.
It is also important to remember that you are not alone; millions of North Americans, many of whom are successful, intelligent people, suffer from anxiety disorders, including OCD. It may be helpful to consider that well-known individuals such as radio personality Howard Stern, actor/comedian Howie Mandel, and singer Justin Timberlake have made great accomplishments despite suffering from OCD.
Joining a support group or participating in group therapy can be an excellent way to get the social support you need. You are not the only one experiencing these symptoms. However, strange or distressing they may seem. Support groups can also provide a safe place for you to discuss your illness and its challenges. People with OCD often understand the challenges you are facing in a way that few others can.
Sources:
Goodman, Wayne K. & Lydiard, R. Bruce. "Recognition and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder". Journal of Clinical Psychiatry December 2007 68: e30. 01 September 2008.
Grisham, Jessica, Anderson, Tracy, and Sachdev, Perminder. "Genetic and environmental influences on obsessive-compulsive disorder". European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical NeuroscienceMarch 2008 258: 107-116. 01 September 2008.
