Hi.  I am Toi.  I have OCD.  For those of you that are unfamiliar, this is not a situation where I organize my soups alphabetically.  I sincerely wish it were. 

This is a debilitating mental illness that I have had my entire life that has become THE MOST debilitating lately.  I am not sure why now, but I have learned a few things.

If you are reading this, then you have certainly searched for OCD or some subcategory, so you are likely familiar with OCD.  Therefore, I am not going to explain the details of the illness.  However, if you are not the sufferer, you should know that this is NOT a mental illness you can talk anyone out of.  AND, DO NOT MAKE fun of it!  In my life, those are the two things most people have ALWAYS tried to do. 

“Hey Toi, just calm down.”  “Hey Toi, that is a dumb thought, just stop thinking it!”  These are natural responses from people without OCD but are also harmful.  Making fun of it, or trying to combat it with your normal logic, will only end up in horribleness. 

I am only one step ahead of many of you suffering right now.  Maybe not even one step ahead. However, I feel there is a need to share this.  I was super scared to do it because of career implications and social implications, but I know now that we ALL need each other. 

OCD is still largely misunderstood by the medical community.  Don’t you ALL wish you had a physical manifestation of OCD that you could point to?  Currently, the medical community is putting lovely categories on OCD, like Harm OCD, Relationship OCD, etc.  ANYONE with OCD knows that your crap can jump theme and categories in an instant.  

OCD is the worst and biggest bully you will face.  HE/SHE/IT is a horrible jerk!  You think you have it in this corner, boom, here is another.