BTW I talk about how I got my OCD treated and how it is managed but I want to be very clear that, for me at least, OCD is not something that is ever likely to be “cured.”

There are some people whose OCD completely disappears and I am happy for them! For me, it’s not like that, perhaps in part because this is something I have literally had all my life (which... I mean 30+ years of undxed OCD is a lot, oof).

But for me, when I talk about my OCD being managed, here’s what I mean by that:

1) A lot of the thoughts I used to be plagued by are completely gone. I used to get images of stabbing myself in the eyes every time I picked up a knife. I don’t get that anymore, thankfully.

2) When I *do* get OCD thoughts — which range from a preoccupation with, like, scratches on my floor to this weird thing where I’ll get this image of my collarbones being crushed or some other violence happening to me — I’m pretty quick to recognize them for what they are.

That might seem minor but it’s actually really, really crucial, because recognizing something as OCD means that I can easily dismiss it and move on with my life rather than falling into a hole.

3) I have a pretty good idea of what triggers my OCD! It’s incredibly basic stuff, just, like, being stressed or overtired or hungry or anything else that pushes my mental capacity to its limit and makes it harder for my brain to rein in the chemical signals that cause the OCD.

Anyway, yeah, I’m not ashamed of any of this. I’m incredibly proud that I worked really hard and was able to overcome and manage a mental illness that had been causing me misery for over thirty years. And I’m happy to speak openly about it in the hopes of helping others.