When friend's think you're lying.

[Chickenpie]

I've never actually posted on here before but here it goes...I'm self diagnosed because I just can't build up the courage to go to the doctors and I wouldn't even know what to say! My friends just tell me to stop being weird. Amongst other things I have to do an even number of steps before I change surfaces when I'm walking, it's kind of hard to expain exactly... It makes me look like I'm wandering all over the place and one of my friends has said she's going to actually hit me every time I do it because that's what she did to her brother when he was little to stop him washing his hands. I tried to explain that I COULD NOT stop myself doing it, but she was pretty much saying, well if I can walk normally then you should be able to aswell. Does anyone else have friends who refuse to believe ocd is real?...sorry it was a bit long...

 

[Ana]

Honestly, most people I know don't think twice about it. I try to explain that the reason I do 'strange' things is because of my OCD, but they just don't seem to care or it just doesn't phase them. It's hard for people to understand that you can't just stop it, you must do it or your world will fall apart!
They will never completely understand and accept OCD because they themselves don't suffer from it. The best thing you can do is tell them the total truth and explain OCD to them in a way that they will understand.
The way I explain OCD to those who don't have it is like this...
"OCD is like a little voice in your head. It tells you to do something and it expects you to do it. If you don't do it then and the way the voice wants you to do it then it will get louder and angrier. It gets louder and louder until you do the task and then it stops for a short while until it gives you the next thing to do."
I really hope that the people around you learn to accept and tolerate your behaviour. I know my family accepts it but they can't tollerate it. I guess that's how life goes with OCD!
Best wishes.

 

[paulmm]

My OCD is mainly obsessional and my compulsions are usually not visible, they are usually in my head and consist of more obsessions. One of my few visible compulsions is knocking on wood to get rid of a jinx. It started normally, just knocking on wood when someone would say that things are going well, and I would knock on wood to prevent things from not continuing to go well. After several months, knocking on wood has grown to cover all of my "unwanted thoughts" and all my compulsive jinxing in my head. I explain this compulsion to my friends in this way:

"My OCD causes me to think of things I don't want to think about. This can include pretty much anything. If I suddenly thought to myself, 'oh my cousin will never get cancer', I will need to knock on wood because I believe that I now control whether or not my cousin gets cancer. If I do not knock on wood, and my cousin gets cancer tomorrow or even in 20 years, I will believe it was my fault and I will feel overwhelming guilt because of it. To avoid this guilt and anxiety, I will compulsively knock on wood to get rid of the jinx. If I try and avoid the compulsion to knock on wood, I will become depressed and extremely anxious and will feel horrible for hours, even days. I will also become extremely fearful and paranoid that the jinx will become true."