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comment by user-inactivated
user-inactivated  ·  3783 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Living with OCD

Thank you for tagging me.

a) why haven't you told your parents? Can you expand on:

    any sufferers of OCD believe that at some level their obsessions of death and harm about people must mean that at some level they desire that pain to come to loved ones. Guilt springs up out of that doubt, and many people keep their disorder to themselves because of it. I do.

If that's the case, why tell your girlfriend? Circumstance forced it? And if you know intellectually that your parents won't see your OCD the way you do (i.e. as a source of guilt), why not tell them? Just curious.

b) I never gave OCD much thought until I read this novel, in which one of the main characters has the disorder or something like it. It certainly gave me a significant empathy toward people with OCD. Have you read it? How does Card's portrayal rate?





PeterC  ·  3783 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Privacy and guilt together, really. I don't want them to worry about it. They have their own problems, and this isn't something I'm incapable of dealing with. I think they noticed something different about me growing up, but I quickly found out how weird the disorder made me from talking to the other kids. I told my girlfriend because - unlike my parents at this stage - I'm building a life with her. She deserves to know.

Intrusive thoughts barrage my mind when I've not prepared myself. The volume of thoughts I can have during those times is overwhelming, and it almost serves to brainwash me into believing the scenes I see in my intrusive thoughts are what I want. "Why else would I imagine them so frequently? Why can't I think of something normal? Is that going to happen? Am I going to make it happen? I'm not getting the ritual right this time. I must subliminally want this..." It erodes the good parts of my personality until I can rebuild myself mentally.

And I love Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I read them as a kid. I'll put Xenocide on the list though. Thanks for the recommendation!

user-inactivated  ·  3783 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    And I love Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I read them as a kid. I'll put Xenocide on the list though. Thanks for the recommendation!

Make sure you read them in order if at all. Can't say I'm proud to recommend the series, exactly, but a fair amount of the plot hinged on OCD-ish, so you might find that interesting.