Hi everyone. This is a sentiment I wanted to share on Instagram. Unfortunately my post got hidden and taken down a number of times. So here it is:
Having OCD does not make you dangerous. I am not afraid of you.
By now many people in the OCD advocacy community have read the article put out by @nypost last week positing deeply inaccurate and harmful takes on OCD. Beyond the deeply misinformed understanding the writer has of OCD, the article also used this fake understanding of obsessions and compulsions as a justification for the author’s bigotry.
I grew up hiding OCD from most people close to me because of the fear of being misunderstood. Finally telling people and being fully known by those around me was the most powerful experience of my life. It was only because of accurate resources that I was able to articulate my experience and receive help.
Willful ignorance like this is not only deeply harmful to a wider understanding of mental health and it’s complicated nature but can and will cost lives. People with OCD are 10 times more likely to die by suic*de (@madeofmillions ) and many don’t even get a chance to understand what’s happening to them or access a proper diagnosis. This also effects marginalized and underrepresented communities in an even more damaging way.
I’ve tried to write this post a few times and just got so frustrated and angry that all I wanted to say was a big fu to the author. But that would do a disservice to this conversation because obviously there are still deep and painful misunderstandings about OCD - an extremely common and debilitating mental health condition.
If you have OCD please please know that you have done nothing wrong and you are worth every bit of space you take up. There are resources out there for you:
@treatmyocd
@iocdf
@ocdfriends
@theocdstories
And many more
I’m going to put these illustrations on my website in a free section and you can download them and print them, share them, do whatever you need to do to believe that you are wonderful. I’ll put an optional donate button and anything that comes through will be going straight to the OCD orgs listed above. That’s all I’ve got for now. Stay safe y’all.
-McKenzie