My Personal Journey With OCD
STEIN, Tammi
DOI: http://doi.org/10.34614/2022IYRC58
Category: Health Narrative
Abstract – This health narrative depicts my personal experience relating to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This rendition begins from the time my OCD was undiagnosed and covers through my current, successful treatment. In this paper, I speak primarily about my magical thinking OCD, which assumed the form of knocking on wood (although other variations of my OCD are mentioned). Originally, it was an unpleasant habit, but that soon blossomed into the OCD that I know and experience today. Almost everything triggered my urge to knock on wood. This included hearing any positive or negative news and, most notably, anything death-related. Over time, the duration of my compulsions grew; it came to the point where at least an hour out of my day was consumed by my OCD forcing me to knock until it felt right. I received treatment in the form of psychotherapy. Through psychotherapy, I was treated with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and exposure and response prevention (ERP). These methods of treatment proved highly successful.