Doubt is thought's despair; despair is personality's doubt. . .;
Doubt and despair . . . belong to completely different spheres; different sides of the soul are set in motion. . .
Despair is an expression of the total personality, doubt only of thought. -
Søren Kierkegaard

doubt 1 a : uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making b : a deliberate suspension of judgment 2 : a state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense 3 a : a lack of confidence : DISTRUST b : an inclination not to believe or accept dis·or·der 1 : to disturb the order of 2 : to disturb the regular or normal functions of Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

"Jennie"

I was first introduced to OCD through my son. I knew when he was very young that something was different about him, I just couldn't put my finger on it. It started out with food. He wouldn't eat fruit. Then he wouldn't eat vegetables. He is to the point now, where he will eat only peanut butter. He refuses to eat meat if there is any visible sign of fat on it.

When he was 5, he had a public toilet overflow after he flushed it. He was forever afraid of public toilets. Our family went on a 3-day vacation, and his fear of the toilet caused him to refrain from using the bathroom the entire time. He now gets frequent urinary tract infections due to this fear. Taking him out to the mall or a restaurant for dinner was always a nightmare, and he frequently wet and soiled his pants.

Then came the phone call from his first grade teacher. My son was brushing the dirt off of his chair every 20 minutes or so. In third grade, his teacher informed me that my son could not do his math if the books on the shelf were askew. She would have to let him organize the books so he would do his schoolwork. Sometimes he would have to pick up the dirt and pebbles by the entry to the classroom in order to do his schoolwork.

He refused to sleep under the covers on his bed, because he had made stacks of things all around the edge of his bed. He collected all sorts of things--rocks, wood, rusty metal, wire, funny papers, TFK Magazines (every one he had ever gotten in school!) His room had piles in every corner.

We finally sought treatment for OCD when his obsessive thoughts started interrupting his schoolwork. He was up at 3am doing schoolwork that he was worried over.

After getting treatment for my son, I became familiar with OCD. I realized that I had some symptoms, also, but I was not ready to go to the Psychiatrist. I knew I was quirky, but I could live with it.

My biggest problem is piles all over the house. I just can't throw anything away, not even junk mail. After all, I might need the paper to start a fire one day when there is no heat or electricity in the dead of winter. I finally went to the doctor because I was suffering from severe depression, due to the clutter in my house, and my inability to keep up with any of the housework. I was sleeping most of the day, and crying most of the time I was awake.

When I filled out the personal survey form, my doctor informed me that I had OCD. He put me on Zoloft. I am now taking 150mg a day. I feel so much better, now. I didn't realize how profoundly OCD had been affecting my life until I started getting better.

I saved bags and bags full of plastic Wal-Mart bags--just in case I ever needed them.

I saved every lid off of every juice bottle, squeeze bottle, frozen juice can, and milk jug I purchased.

I saved every glass jar.

I saved every recyclable plastic container--which are still in my garage, by the way.

I had saved bags and bags full of dryer lint. I don't know why, I just thought I might need it one day.

I had boxes and boxes in the garage filled with nothing but boxes. I saved every one.

I saved every paper that every one of my four children ever did in school. I have several boxes in the attic just full of papers.

I saved the disposable lids off of fountain drinks that you buy at the gas station. I also saved all the straws.

I saved every tin can I ever bought. I washed them, removed the labels, and saved them in the garage.

I washed and found a place to put all of these things. My house was very crowded and cluttered.

I had organized all 150 of our videos--they were in alphabetical order, separated as to the company that produced it, and written down on a sheet of paper to keep track of them. I had placed a sticker on the spine of each one with an assigned number and category (action/adventure, comedy, animation, documentary......)

I had to check all the locks in the house 3 times before going to bed. I had to pray that my husband who works nights would get home safely and not die in a car accident on the way home. If he was 30 minutes late and didn't call, I was sure that every ring of the telephone was the State Police with devastating news. I had to pull all the covers off of the bed and check for bugs. If I went to bed without doing these things, I couldn't sleep and I would have to get up and do them so I could sleep.

I would lock the doors of my car at every stoplight, even if they were already locked.

If I went shopping alone, I was always afraid of being attacked. I didn't like to go to parties or get-togethers anymore, because I talk too much and I can't shut up. I know I annoy people. I would just rather stay home.

I used to love to garden, it brought me tremendous pleasure. I found myself avoiding it because my arachnophobia had escalated to the fear of not only spiders, but any kind of insect (except butterflies and ladybugs). Every time I gardened, I ran into a bug of some kind, and it scared me to death.

I didn't always have OCD. I was very sick during the pregnancy of my last baby. I was severely dehydrated. I was in the hospital on I.V.'s for a month, and at home on I.V.'s for another 6 weeks. When I finally got to the point where I could keep food down, I developed gestational diabetes. My baby weighed over 10 pounds. She was my 4th child, and after being in bed for 3 months, my muscles were shot. It was very painful to stand or walk. I was in a lot of pain every day for the last 5 months, and in a wheel chair the last month. When she was born, I hemorrhaged. It took a long time to build back all the blood I had lost, but I had given my doctor specific instructions NOT to give me blood unless I would absolutely die without it. I didn't want AIDS.

I guess being that sick drained my brain. I started saving things, my house became a mess, I was always depressed and overwhelmed. I kept thinking I'd get better, or get over it, but the symptoms just got progressively worse. I am back to my old self again. I am not completely cured, but I have started throwing a lot of those crazy things I saved away. Saving those things had consumed so much of my time! It still hurts to throw the milk jug lids away, but every one I throw out is a win for me.

If I sound like you or anyone you know, please go and see the doctor. You owe it to yourself and to your family. I wasted almost 5 years of my life suffering with this illness, because "only crazy people go to the psychiatrist." If it's embarrassing to you, then you are the only person who has to know--but DO get help.

Jennie

I am not a doctor, therapist or professional in the treatment of OCD. This site reflects my experience and my opinions only, unless otherwise stated. I am not responsible for the content of links I may point to or any content or advertising in HealthyPlace.com other then my own.

Always consult a trained mental health professional before making any decision regarding treatment choice or changes in your treatment. Never discontinue treatment or medication without first consulting your physician, clinician or therapist.

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copyright ©1996-2009 All Rights Reserved

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Doubt is thought's despair; despair is personality's doubt. . .;
Doubt and despair . . . belong to completely different spheres; different sides of the soul are set in motion. . .
Despair is an expression of the total personality, doubt only of thought. -
Søren Kierkegaard

doubt 1 a : uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making b : a deliberate suspension of judgment 2 : a state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense 3 a : a lack of confidence : DISTRUST b : an inclination not to believe or accept dis·or·der 1 : to disturb the order of 2 : to disturb the regular or normal functions of Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

"Denice"

In 1995 I was a senior in college. I was excellent student, some would say driven. I was outgoing, flamboyant, friendly, gregarious, risk-taking. During the fall semester I found myself not attending class, crying all the time, looking at the ground. I could not make decisions or carry on conversations. I could not decide what to eat or where to sit or what to do with myself. I was totally paralyzed form the inside out. I heard only loud noises reverberating in my brain. I shouted at myself all the time just to keep the noise out, just to drown out the white noise in my head. I felt like I was sharing brain space with a roaring lion. I could not sleep as I would think that a flaming big mac truck would run me over, in spite of my location on the third floor. I could not drive as I feared getting into accidents. I daydreamed that my family died and I went to their funerals. Things on the side of the road were on fire and cars blew up before my eyes. It was a bizarre time in my life as I felt I was loosing my mind. My sanity. I thought I was going crazy.

I have been diagnosed with major depression and OCD.

Most recently my OCD has manifested itself in a slightly different way. I could not merge or turn left in the car as I felt an overwhelming sense of anxiety and horror. I could not sleep. I repeated everything to everyone, as if they had forgotten it the world would blow up. I checked my alarm clock a gazillion times before I went to bed. If my husband would not check it for me, I would stay awake until he went asleep so I could check it without him getting mad. I always had to know where all my things were at all times; I would count my water glasses, my silverware, my plates. I had to be able to put my hands on or visualize the location of my wallet and my keys. I was antisocial and agoraphobic as I felt that strangers stared at me all of the time. Like God marked me with a blue halo or something. I had a gazillion back up plans: what if I cannot go to the grocery store because there is traffic? what if I cannot go down this street on my way to work? what if it snows tomorrow and I cannot leave the house? what if I don't have milk at home? I had a plan for each of these things, and a plan in case the back up plan went bad. My mind was obsessed with certainty, predictability, precision, accuracy, perfection.

It is a daily struggle not be overwhelmed with the details of life. To learn what thoughts are rational and irrational, to accept that there are some things in the world (many things, actually) that I can not control. That I will never control. I have learned to accept that medication and therapy make me a stronger, better person, better wife, better daughter. I am still learning to trust myself, trust my instinct, trust that if handed a situation (like what to do when there is not milk for cereal) I can successfully deal with it on the fly. Without a plan.

I wish that some people would understand that the human condition is diverse and robust. I wish that people would not make fun of psychiatric medications and I wish that people would understand that I cannot "just stop", despite my best efforts. I wish that I would be bored, that I could relax, that I could put aside the lists and the thoughts and the plans and just sit on my front lawn and watch the world go by. Or to pick up a book at 2 PM on Saturday afternoon and just read... read until my eyes hurt!

Thanks for listening, World. Deep down inside I know that I am not so strange after all.

-Denice

I am not a doctor, therapist or professional in the treatment of OCD. This site reflects my experience and my opinions only, unless otherwise stated. I am not responsible for the content of links I may point to or any content or advertising in HealthyPlace.com other then my own.

Always consult a trained mental health professional before making any decision regarding treatment choice or changes in your treatment. Never discontinue treatment or medication without first consulting your physician, clinician or therapist.

Content of Doubt and Other Disorders
copyright ©1996-2009 All Rights Reserved

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Doubt is thought's despair; despair is personality's doubt. . .;
Doubt and despair . . . belong to completely different spheres; different sides of the soul are set in motion. . .
Despair is an expression of the total personality, doubt only of thought. -
Søren Kierkegaard

doubt 1 a : uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making b : a deliberate suspension of judgment 2 : a state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense 3 a : a lack of confidence : DISTRUST b : an inclination not to believe or accept dis·or·der 1 : to disturb the order of 2 : to disturb the regular or normal functions of Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

"Clare"

My name is Clare and I was diagnosed with OCD.

I guess that the obsessions go back as far as I can remember, but then again, I am only 19 years old so it hasn't been that long. It began for me as lists. At any given time, I have 10 lists. I have a front page of the lists that I have in my list packet, and then I have the various lists. There are "To Do" lists, "To Study" lists, "Medicines to take", "When to take my medicines", etc... Then I realized that I spell. I think of a conversation in my head and then realize that I had just spelled a word out while thinking. In conversations, I spell certain words and do not even realize it. Also, I have a 11 month old son and I color coordinate his bottles, and when his sitter messes up the rhythm, I have to empty and wash them all and begin the cycle of Red bottle, Green bottle, Purple bottle, etc..all over again. It seems stupid, but when I drive, I read every sign I see on the street, highway, freeway, or wherever. If I miss a sign, I get a feeling of panic, that I don't know something and now, I could be in danger, or be going the wrong way. I also have an obsession of order. Right now, I have a list in order of the obsessions I want to write about. Lastly, I count my bites and when I walk up stairs, I count the stairs as well. These are all such minor, silly things, and yet I don't know why I do them. My day can not progress the way it should without these obsessions and compulsions of mine coming into play.

When I was diagnosed, I felt relieved, because I always knew there was something wrong with me, I just didn't know what it was. Now that I know, I have to read everything that I see about OCD. I look it up on the web, I go to book stores, I mean everything. It is good to know that I am not alone, that there are other people out there like me. OCD has not gone away yet. I have recently began taking Zoloft, and from what I have read, my case is very minor and hopefully it will help. I am looking forward to a happy, healthy life.

Contact Clare

I am not a doctor, therapist or professional in the treatment of OCD. This site reflects my experience and my opinions only, unless otherwise stated. I am not responsible for the content of links I may point to or any content or advertising in HealthyPlace.com other then my own.

Always consult a trained mental health professional before making any decision regarding treatment choice or changes in your treatment. Never discontinue treatment or medication without first consulting your physician, clinician or therapist.

Content of Doubt and Other Disorders
copyright ©1996-2009 All Rights Reserved

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Doubt is thought's despair; despair is personality's doubt. . .;
Doubt and despair . . . belong to completely different spheres; different sides of the soul are set in motion. . .
Despair is an expression of the total personality, doubt only of thought. -
Søren Kierkegaard

doubt 1 a : uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making b : a deliberate suspension of judgment 2 : a state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense 3 a : a lack of confidence : DISTRUST b : an inclination not to believe or accept dis·or·der 1 : to disturb the order of 2 : to disturb the regular or normal functions of Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Here I will be placing contributed descriptions and stories from people living with OCD.

As this page grows, it will be very useful in helping those who care about us understand a little more about what it is like to have OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). It will also be useful for people who think they might have OCD or something to read a description that resonates with them.

It's an interesting exercise to try and write down what it is like to have an obsession. Go on give it a try and send me the results, which I will be glad to post either attributed or not - your call.

If you wish to contact one of the authors and their E-mail is not with their story, you may contact me and I will forward your message

Lisa

"I'm not sure where to begin. It all began in 1997 when we moved. I had my first "attack" of anxiety. It came on so quickly I didn't even know what it was..."

Sue

" I wish I could do something. What's wrong with me anyhow? This is really nuts."

Mary

"I've never known life without OCD. From as far back as I can remember intrusive, unwanted thoughts and fears have plagued me."

Hillary

"I think it was approx.1989 when I first experienced OCD behavior.I didn't recognize it as such but now, thinking back, it was OCD."

Tom

"The first genuine OCD experience that I can remember happened to me when I was about 6 years old. It happened one morning. . ."

C

"It's like you can't believe anything you tell yourself because you might be wrong. "

Jane

"My main disorder is checking things. I have made sure the drip coffee pot was off a couple thousand times, "

Ryan

"My wife was terrified hearing all these things from me as well. Luckily, I went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed this problem correctly "

Tammy

"My other obsession is with death. Everyday I am plagued with thoughts of death, that of loved ones and/or myself. "

Clare

"It began for me as lists. At any given time, I have 10 lists. I have a front page of the lists that I have in my list packet, and then I have the various lists."

Rick

"I couldn't sleep, couldn't go out of the house, etc. I went to him and went on a program of cognitive behavior therapy, medication and, very importantly, meditation. The meditation was key."

Fred

"My name is Fred and I have suffered with OCD as long as I can remember. It started when I was a little boy. I am 37 years old now and I have had relief for the past 6-7 years, after finally being diagnosed with the disorder."

Leah

"I am 24 and have been suffering from OCD as long as I can remember. It got extremely severe when I went away to college this past September. It got so bad that I had to take a sick leave."

Cara

"At around 35 years of age I began to question why I had to check things all the time - are the car lights really turned off, did I make a mistake in the work I did today (better recheck it), etc..."

Lisa from New York

"I am sharing my story because I want others to know that OCD is not just about washing, checking or other rituals. There is another horrific side to this illness, and I want others to know that they are not alone and should not feel shame for thoughts they cannot help."

Deb's Poem

"shining down on me a vision dances perfect, her wisdom innocent she tries to free the parts i keep sheltered, locked behind the doors, safe"

Phil

"I guess my story will sound quite familiar but it still feels shocking to me. I still cannot believe that this is happening to me."

Heather

"It reached its worst point around 20-21. I was obsessed about diseases. HIV was a huge deal and at times still is, though I have been tested and am fine. I was bed ridded with this disorder. I could not touch certain colors. "

Tina

"I am a 30 year old woman with 3 children, my first experience with OCD I was 19 years old and it was on Thanksgiving Day. For as long as I live I will never forget that day."

Brandi

"The first thought was my mind telling me that I wanted to molest my little cousin, then my mind started telling me that I was a lesbian even though I had never been physically attracted to a girl before. Then my mind started..."

Kerri

" My OCD started when I was 7 years old. When I was supposed to be asleep one night, I couldn't stop counting to 100 and I started crying."

Richard

"Three separate psychiatrists failed to diagnose OCD (or if they did they weren't letting me in on the diagnosis) and I eventually endured four years of psychoanalytical therapy which was of no value to me at all (having lightened my bank account of $10,000)."

Michael

"When I was in sixth grade, I was first introduced to a "new" virus called HIV. It was during a Health/Sex Education class where we learned about this disease..."

Jennie

" I was first introduced to OCD through my son. I knew when he was very young that something was different about him, I just couldn't put my finger on it. It started out with food..."

Brenda

" my earliest memory of an ocd obsession was around 4-5 years of age. i noticed a neighbor's cat with a dead mouse in its mouth, and i was fascinated. i remember telling my mother about the sight, and her response was, "oh, you didn't touch it did you?"

Denice

" I was totally paralyzed form the inside out. I heard only loud noises reverberating in my brain. I shouted at myself all the time just to keep the noise out, just to drown out the white noise in my head. I felt like I was sharing brain space with a roaring lion."

Riley

" I Have been suffering with OCD, anxiety and depression from the time I was 7 yrs old. OCD for me started out with me washing . . ."

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Doubt is thought's despair; despair is personality's doubt. . .;
Doubt and despair . . . belong to completely different spheres; different sides of the soul are set in motion. . .
Despair is an expression of the total personality, doubt only of thought. -
Søren Kierkegaard

doubt 1 a : uncertainty of belief or opinion that often interferes with decision-making b : a deliberate suspension of judgment 2 : a state of affairs giving rise to uncertainty, hesitation, or suspense 3 a : a lack of confidence : DISTRUST b : an inclination not to believe or accept dis·or·der 1 : to disturb the order of 2 : to disturb the regular or normal functions of Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

For myself and those millions of others who live with the "Doubting Disease", as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is sometimes called the answer is, yes. For us doubt can be pathological.

There is a need for certainty in OCD. Certainty is, of course, elusive. It is in this not knowing that compulsive ritual is born.

The disorder asks, "What if?". The question comes unbidden. In answering that question we are lost. We are lost in a labyrinth of increasing anxiety unable to break free. Fear, horrific images, vivid terrifying consequences consume us. "What if?" is the obsession.

If only we could know for sure that these terrors will not come to pass. But we can not know. There is something fundamentally wrong with that process in us. The disorder is unable to tolerate uncertainty. In the absence of certainty we seek relief. We seek anything that will stop this searing anxiety. One whose fears are centered around contamination will begin to wash or decontaminate. Another will check to make sure they have done something or not done something and on it goes. Soon the behavior becomes ritualized. It has to be done a certain way and a certain number of times. It evolves becoming more and more complicated until it takes over the persons life.

OCD afflicts 2%-3% of any given population . It does not discriminate, geographically or ethnically. It is found across the whole spectrum of human culture and population. Many of these millions of sufferers do not know what is wrong with them. They do know that something is wrong. They know that these strange demands are irrational but cannot stop. They do not know that they are not alone.

This page is just by one of those people.

If this page helps anyone, either to find help or just to discover they are not alone, then it's purpose will have been then defined. I am just attempting to carry the message.

I am not a doctor, therapist or professional in the treatment of CD. This site reflects my experience and my opinions only, unless otherwise stated. I am not responsible for the content of links I may point to or any content or advertising in HealthyPlace.com other then my own.

Always consult a trained mental health professional before making any decision regarding treatment choice or changes in your treatment. Never discontinue treatment or medication without first consulting your physician, clinician or therapist.

Content of Doubt and Other Disorders
copyright ©1996-2009 All Rights Reserved

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Change #3

"I want to avoid the symptoms." to "I want to face the symptoms to gain skills."

Another common expression in the martial arts is, "Love the mat." In other words, during the learning process you'll find yourself, again and again, lying flat out on the mat after your opponent gets the best of you. By embracing challenging experiences as a necessary part of your training, you reduce your resistance to the learning process. "Love the mat" is a winning attitude of the student who knows that she doesn't always get to be in control.

The only way to get the best of panic is to face the symptoms directly and practice your skills. Many people make the error of designing practice sessions in which they enter the fearful situations until the point that they feel discomfort. Then they retreat. This approach makes their recovery process long, slow and arduous.

This task -- of provoking your symptoms -- requires courage. Think of courage as "being scared and doing it anyway." This way, as you face panic, you don't have to get rid of fear, you need to add courage. In fact, you only need courage in fearful situations!

Provoking your symptoms is exactly what I encourage you to do. Don't wait until your weekly schedule puts you into a panicky situation. Set up events that will provoke your distress. Some would say that this goes beyond courage to stupidity. It's like being in the jungle and running toward the lion's roar. But that is the move, and the expression "run toward the roar" will be a useful reminder.

If your symptoms suddenly end without any effort on your part, that will be a wonderful experience. However, you will still be open to blackmail by panic because you have yet to learn how to respond to the symptoms when they come. If at any point in the future the symptoms return, you'll be back at ground zero: reacting to panic with many of the eight expected attitudes. Although it is difficult to push yourself into situations that make you anxious, those efforts will help inoculate you against panic's control of your future.

Your job here is to be proactive, not reactive. Don't wait for the anxiety-provoking situations to arrive. Look around your world for ways to stir up trouble. Ask yourself, "What can I do to get myself anxious today?"

I can still remember Mary B.'s words: "Come on, panic, give me your best shot." Here's how she set the scene. "I was at the library gathering some research for a paper. After about twenty or thirty minutes I suddenly started feeling quite anxious and confined. I really wanted to run out of there. My body started shaking, I felt lightheaded and I lost all concentration on my work. Then, I don't know how it came to me, but I decided to take the bull by the horns. I walked to the end of the row of shelves and sat down cross-legged on the floor. (I didn't want to crack my head open if I fainted.) Then I said, 'Come on, panic, give me your best shot.' And I just sat there. I sat there and took it. Within two or three minutes all the symptoms stopped. I got up and finished my work, which required about three more hours in the library."

That was quite a learning experience for Mary B. Before that night she would have left the building immediately upon noticing her symptoms, gone straight home, never finished that research and mentally kicked herself over the next two or three weeks for having failed at her task.

The nature of panic is that it produces involuntary symptoms in your body. By voluntarily seeking out those symptoms you begin to change panic. You take away its involuntary nature, and start to shift the control over to you. So as you accept this challenge of "I want to face the symptoms to gain skills," remember to love the mat and run toward the roar.

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A man whose mind feels that it is captive would prefer to blind himself to the fact. But if he hates falsehood, he will not do so; and in that case he will have to suffer a lot. He will beat his head against the wall until he faints. He will come to again and look with terror at the wall, until one day he begins afresh to beat his head against it; and once again he will faint. And so on endlessly and without hope. One day he will wake up on the other side of the wall. - Simone Weil

Definitions from Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Right off the top let me make clear that I am not a professional in the medical, psychiatric or social work fields. I am not a doctor or therapist. I'm just a guy with OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder).

I have had OCD for 40 years more or less and was diagnosed (finally) about 10 years ago. Which puts me at being 40 something and lets leave it at that.

That, I suppose, makes me something of an expert at living, or surviving, with OCD. I also know from personal experience a lot about what OCD treatments are and what they are like. I have an intense and up close knowledge of side effects for instance. Believe me, I've tried all of the medications, common and uncommon, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), talk therapy, you name it, everything except surgery, which I have declined.

My OCD is considered refractory, unamenable to treatment-so far. It's also considered severe to extreme. I usually score in the low 30's on the YBOCS (Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale) which is a tool used to determine if treatment is working-sort of.

This would be the place where I would put some accomplishments and so forth. And while I have attended college for instance, and done well while there, I have never finished. OCD has conspired in part or in whole to take away most of the opportunities I have had in my life. But that story can be found in my other pages

The long term goal of this site is to put a face to OCD, to make it a personal site. There are many good sites on the Web for OCD that contain great information and resources, but not many that try to convey what it is like from a personal point of view.

Ideally, if someone who knows they have a problem stumbles across this site and, in reading, sees something of themselves or identifies with what they see and then seeks help or even learns that they are not alone and that there is help available - that would be what this site is about

I am not a doctor, therapist or professional in the treatment of OCD. This site reflects my experience and my opinions only, unless otherwise stated. I am not responsible for the content of links I may point to or any content or advertising in HealthyPlace.com other then my own.

Always consult a trained mental health professional before making any decision regarding treatment choice or changes in your treatment. Never discontinue treatment or medication without first consulting your physician, clinician or therapist.

Content of Doubt and Other Disorders
copyright ©1996-2002 All Rights Reserved

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During school years, the phenomenon of peer pressure begins to become a very powerful force. Children see what's packed in each other's lunches. And, yes, it's not unusual for your darling to trade the apple for potato chips or the carrot for a candy bar. If they don't bring their own lunches, the choices available at the schools usually get broader (and less healthy) as the years go by.

Peer pressure can be turned to your advantage in three ways.

1) Kids are interested in health. They can learn the difference between healthy food and junk food. They can learn to read labels. They can learn to avoid harmful ingredients. Encourage your children's teachers to teach the class at least a little about good nutrition at the beginning of each year. If eating well is confirmed by this outside authority and is tied in with success at school, it will help. Encourage this when you eat out by trying to identify (together) the most healthy and least healthy choices on a menu.

2) Connect with the parents of your child's class about how important peer pressure is at this age. Make a list of the kinds of foods that would be great in lunches and the kinds of foods to avoid. Encourage the parents to band together to help healthy food be the norm for that class. What's cool in a particular classroom is more important to kids than what's cool nationally.

3) Make your kids' lunches the coolest. Use a wide variety of foods your child likes. Don't let them get boring. You could use a different fruit everyday for a month! Make it an event (guess the fruit--no peeking!). You could even send clues along about tomorrow's fruit, so everyone is trying to guess. Another month, carve faces into some carrot sticks. They can name the carved carrots and eat the best one last. Or try fortune vegetables--instead of fortune cookies. I can remember being told, "Don't play with your food." I'm telling you the opposite. Learn to play with your children's food. You'll have a great time and make a big difference for them.

A promising trial called the CATCH Study (Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health) was completed a few years ago. Over 5,000 third graders at 28 schools scattered across the country participated. In 40 schools, no interventions were made. In the study schools, nutrition was added to the curriculum, and the school lunches themselves were made healthier. The kids were followed up through third, fourth, and fifth grades. Complete dietary assessments showed that, in the study schools, the amount of fat in the diet decreased significantly from 39% to 32%, whereas in the 40 schools in which no changes were made, the amount of fat intake did not change. Eating well can be learned Journal of the American Medical Association, March 13, 1996.

The best way to sustain good nutrition throughout adolescence and adult life is to learn it while we are young.

Adolescent nutrition

By the teenage years, many habits have already been set. "See ya," your teen tells you as she heads out of the house. By this time, most of her eating habits have been established. If they are bad ones, this is not a good time to enter a conflict about the issue. Later in life she may be ready to revisit this issue, as some of you are now, but as an adolescent, there are many more pressing issues.

About 20% of adult height and 50% of adult weight are gained during adolescence. Most boys double their lean body mass between the ages of 10 and 17 years. Because growth and change is so rapid during this period, the requirements for all nutrients increase. This is especially true of calcium and iron.

Adolescents need to take in at least 1200 mg of calcium per day during the adolescent growth spurt to build strong bones to last a lifetime. Almost half (45%) of the bone mass they will have for the rest of their lives is added during adolescence.

Calcium is found in milk, yogurt, dark-green vegetables (such as collard greens, spinach, turnip greens, and kale), cheese, pudding, sesame seeds, tofu, bok choi (Chinese cabbage), canned non-boneless salmon and sardines, and cottage cheese. Some brands of orange juice are fortified with calcium. Calcium is also available in dietary supplements.

Adequate calcium intake during adolescence results in fewer teenage broken bones. More importantly, it increases maximum bone density, reducing the risk for osteoporosis later in life, especially in postmenopausal women. People reach maximal bone density while they are adolescents or young adults and then gradually lose bone the rest of their lives. The more they start with, the more they will end up with. The amount of calcium consumed during adolescence correlates directly with the total bone mineral content measured on adolescent X-rays Journal of Pediatrics, April 1995.

Most teens consume less than 1,000 mg of calcium per day. Those who do nothing more than take a 500-mg calcium supplement boost their intake from 80% to 110% of the RDA. This results in a significant, measurable increase in bone density and bone mineral content of the spine (Journal of the American Medical Association, August 18, 1993), but these benefits disappear within 18 months if teens return to poor calcium intake AAP News, February 1997.

Teens who consume 1200 mg of calcium per day are also measurably stronger than those who don't. A study of 162 Icelandic girls found their grip strength (an estimate of total body strength) to correlate well with their calcium intake Journal of Internal Medicine, October 1994.

Some teens I know drink diet colas as if they were water. You've heard of chain smoking--these kids do chain soda drinking. One can pops open almost before the previous one is empty. I have even heard of teens that pride themselves in drinking a 2-liter bottle of diet soda instead of eating lunch! A high consumption of carbonated cola beverages reduces bone mineralization and makes teenage girls almost four times as likely to break a bone than their male counterparts Journal of Adolescent Health, May 1994.

Rob, one of the adolescent boys in my practice, loved to compete in track and field. His running times in his sophomore year of high school were excellent, but try as he might, his times began to fall off during his junior year. The harder he trained, the poorer his times got. A blood test during his physical showed him to be anemic--not enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells. The anemia came from iron deficiency.

Anemia is common among adolescents, regardless of their level of physical activity. Iron deficiency is the most common cause. An inadequate diet is the chief reason for this problem. Junk food diets can easily lead to iron deficiency. Teens on a weight-loss diet are especially at risk, as are girls with heavy periods. Iron deficiency is sometimes made worse by intense and lengthy physical training and by the use of pain medications, which irritate the lining of the stomach.

Iron supplementation significantly improves learning, memory, and cognitive test performance in iron-deficient adolescents (even if they are not deficient enough to become anemic) (Pediatric News, January 1997). Iron supplementation also measurably improves the performance of iron-deficient, anemic athletes American Journal of Diseases of Children, October 1992.

Rob made changes in his diet and also took an iron supplement for a while. His performance improved steadily. (By the way, iron supplements do not improve the performance of non-anemic athletes).

To make dietary changes, information should be presented about short-term consequences, particularly related to appearance, athletic ability, popularity, and enjoyment of life, because these are more important to most teens than long-term health. For instance, adolescents can be told, "Calcium will help you grow taller during your growth spurt. It also makes you measurably stronger. Iron will help you do better on tests and stay up later without being as tired. Carrots will make you a better driver, and will make me more comfortable lending you my car," and so on.

When you do speak of long-term consequences, link them to the things that teens care about--particularly body image. For instance, "Have you ever seen old men and women that are bent over when they walk? Have you seen old men and women that are strong and active? One of the biggest differences was how much calcium they got every day when they were your age..." Teach, but don't nag.Again, make good food fun for your teen. This doesn't mean you should make mouse ears out of zucchini slices; instead, have their friends over for a healthy cookout. I can remember when I was younger we had a vegetable party. Different vegetables were on numbered plates spread throughout the house. Each guest had a score card, on which they tried to identify the vegetables (some were quite unusual). There was a taste test (vegetables were rated for appearance, aroma, texture, and flavor), and awards were given to the best (and worst) vegetables. We also tried to pick which person (celebrity or acquaintance) most reminded us of each vegetable and why. The evening was a blast--although I was skeptical at first--I had as much fun as I'd had at any dance (well, almost any dance...:^)

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MUST HAVES for People, Friends and Relatives with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Issues

Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior
By: Jeffrey M. Schwartz, Beverly Beyette
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Freedom from Obsessive- Compulsive Disorder: A Personalized Recovery Program for Living with Uncertainty
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What to do when your Child has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Strategies and Solutions
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Freeing Your Child from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Powerful, Practical Program for Parents of Children and Adolescents
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What to Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming OCD (What-to-Do Guides for Kids)
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Survival Guide For Family And Friends
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Just Checking: Scenes from the life of an obsessive-compulsive
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THE ABILITY TO READ FAST is made up of lots of little skills. You can use as many or as few of those skills as you want. The more of those individual skills you use, the faster you'll be able to read. Add all the skills together, and sure, it's dramatic. But who needs dramatics? A small improvement is cool enough.

Of course, when you learn to read faster, you can read more. But there's another benefit that's not so obvious: Reading will become more interesting. You find the same difference between hearing a lecturer who speaks too slowly versus one who speaks at a comfortable but lively pace. It's more interesting. It's more fun. It keeps you awake. And by reading faster, you're making the process more challenging in a controlled way. And a challenge that is under your control is enjoyable.

Below are three basic techniques for increasing your speed. Pick one and try it in the spirit of fun. When you've got that one going pretty well, come back and add another one. After awhile, you'll have increased your speed...and probably your comprehension too (studies show speed alone can increase your comprehension).

Here are the techniques:

1. Don't let your eyes regress. Keep them moving forward. They will have a tendency to go back a few words occasionally. That continual little movement backwards adds up. If you stop doing it, your speed will increase a little. Studies indicate that rereading words like that doesn't increase comprehension anyway.
2. Constantly practice "picking up speed" as you read. Reading is a skill, and like any other skill, the constant effort to do it a little better keeps you getting better and better at it as time goes on.
3. Take in more words at a time. If you normally see two words at a time when you read, your eyes look at two words, move to the next two and stop to look at those, move to the next two, etc. Begin taking in three words at a time so your eyes make fewer stops, increasing your speed. Increase your challenge only as your skill increases. Keep it fun. Don't push yourself so hard it becomes stressful.

WHEN YOU FIRST practice a technique, you'll be conscious of using it and that may very well distract you a little from comprehending what you're reading. But keep practicing and the technique will become automatic, no longer requiring your conscious attention, allowing you to put your full attention on the content of the written material. At that point, you will have gained an increase in reading skill to enjoy for the rest of your life.

To read faster and increase your comprehension:
Don't let your eyes regress, practice picking up speed, and take in more words at a time.

Self-Help Stuff That Works makes an excellent gift. You can order it now.

Here's a way to make your work more enjoyable.
Play the Game

One way to be promoted at work and succeed on the job may seem entirely unrelated to your actual tasks or purpose at work.
Vocabulary Raises

This is a simple technique to allow you to get more done without relying on time-management or willpower.
Forbidden Fruits

Here is a way to turn your daily life into a fulfilling, peace-inducing meditation.
Life is a Meditation

A good principle of human relations is don't brag, but if you internalize this too thoroughly, it can make you feel that your efforts are futile.
Taking Credit

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