Oh hey everybody.
Are you OCD or do you simply sleep better at night knowing for sure that your door is
unlocked?
I mean locked.
[Laughter].
This week just happens to also be OCD awareness week and I have a question from someone about
OCD and our tendency to trivialize these kinds of disorders and why that matters, why we
should pay attention to it, why we should really understand what OCD is so I thought
this was a perfect opportunity to talk about it.
A while back Aine Cullen asked, 'I would really love more discussion on how romanticizing
and trivializing illnesses are harmful.
I see this a lot and it frustrates me and was wondering what effect this has.
Also the minimizing and trivializing of illnesses such as saying you have OCD because you like
neat things.'
First of all I think it's really important for us to fully understand what we're talking
about.
OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is obviously a disorder.
It's not simply liking for all of your shoes to be you know, all the toes lined up in one
way or how I am where I get very particular about how the dishwasher should be loaded
Professor Fiance, seriously.
OCD is characterized by obsessions which are frequent upsetting thought patterns that then
provoke you to enact these rituals or compulsions that tend to be disruptive to your life.
For instance a 1989 landmark study on OCD described it as quote, 'Every day life becomes
tyrannized by doubts leading to senseless repetition and ritual.'
Adding another layer of complication to OCD is that most people with it understand that
their compulsions are completely illogical and don't make sense to the people around
them so they tend to be really good at covering up those ritualistic behaviors which might
seem like it can make it more manageable but actually probably exacerbates the negative
impact of OCD one's life because that delays them getting treatment for it.
A study found that there's typically a 17 year gap between symptoms of OCD first popping
up and getting treatment for it.
And when it comes to treatment guess what?
Even though OCD impacts more people all around the world compared to things like schizophrenia
and bipolar disorder it receives far less funding and research attention partially because
of how we tend to marginalize it, we think a lot of times and we portray a lot of times
in pop culture that OCD is something that just makes you kind of quirky.
Not something that is actually debilitating to a lot of people's lives, I'm talking 176
million people around the world.
So because OCD is so often overlooked at large in many way's it's still a mystery as to how
it functions because and this blew my mind, brain scans of people with OCD tend to look
identical to brain scans of people without it.
Even though there are hints of genetic underpinnings of it and neurochemical wirings that tend
to exacerbate those obsessive compulsive patterns that propel the entire cycle over and over
and over again, doctors still aren't entirely sure what to do about it.
Hopefully if we consider this, this whole thing that is OCD and how many people around
the world are effected by it and the fact that if you need another fact that the World
Health Organization once listed it as one of the top 20 global sources of disability,
maybe we can make just one little concession, just one little concession in our life to
replace, 'oh I'm so OCD with fill in the blank,' with something like I'm really hyper-focused
on this, I'm super attentive and use words that don't inadvertently kind of walk all
over these other people who often are busily hiding this thing that still doesn't get adequate
treatment.
So I'm really curious to know if there's anyone with OCD watching this right now and what
your experiences are and how you feel like your OCD is often perceived.
I would love to hear from you in the comments if you're comfortable sharing that.
And thanks to everybody who watched and commented on last week's Ask Cristen video about whether
daughters cause divorce.
MrKellyConley commented, 'My husband is from China and due to sonogram failure my in laws
thought that he was going to be a girl.
Immediately my father in law demanded an abortion so that they could try for a son, my husband's
mother refused and my husband was in fact born a boy so suddenly his father wanted him.
My husband because of all of this is a strident feminist and neither have a preference for
which gender we have for either of our children.'
Sarah Ross commented, 'I know that my dad definitely wanted a son but he ended up with
two daughters instead.
Because I'm the youngest I became his "son" learning to play cricket, golf, soccer, rugby
and various other stereotypically masculine things.
I wonder if it's not necessarily a desire to continue the male line but more a desire
to have things to bond over.'
Hey speaking of things to bond over, awkward transition, I just wanted to give a quick
update that you might be noticing fewer Stuff Mom Never Told You videos coming out each
week.
There's nothing wrong with your YouTube.
Two videos a week, two Stuff Mom Never Told You podcasts a week and hopefully more of
me being able to interact with you.
If you follow me @CristenConger, I'm thinking about Periscoping every weekend, probably
on Sundays.
Let me know though if you would watch it.
While making things is really important to do, making community, that's the stuff.
That's the stuff that I really want me heart to stay in no matter what.
Thank you all for your continued support.
I hope that two videos a week will suffice your Stuff Mom Never Told You needs and every
now and then we'll have a bonus video and also let me know if you'd watch me on Periscope.
Alright.
Bye.
For now.