OCD Myth

"OCD is just liking neat things"

Actually, it's human nature to want things to be in order and neat. OCD can have something to do with neatness, but to an extreme to the point where it's negative.

• 2.3% of the population between 18-54 have OCD

•OCD shows up earlier in boys

•less than 10% of the population with OCD receive treatment

•OCD is caused by genetics or the environment

•Requires a diagnosis from a doctor

•Began as an anxiety disorder but is now branched out to become its own mental disorder

•45%-65% likely to be genetic in childhood vs. 27%-47% in adulthood

•1 in 200 children have OCD

•

OCD Statistics and Science

Imagine that your mind got stuck on a certain thought…

Then this thought got replayed in your mind

over and over

no matter what you did…

You don’t want these thoughts

Along with the thoughts come intense anxiety…

Anxiety is your brain’s alarm system. When you feel anxious, it feels like you are in danger. Anxiety is an emotion that tells you to respond, react, protect yourself.

On the one hand, you might recognize that the fear doesn’t make sense, doesn’t seem reasonable…

Why would your brain lie?

Why would you have these feelings if they weren’t true? Feelings don’t lie… Do they?

Unfortunately, if you have OCD, they do lie. If you have OCD, the warning system in your brain is not working correctly. Your brain is telling you that you are in danger when you are not.

When scientists compare pictures of the brains of groups of people with OCD, they can see that some areas of the brain are different than the brains of people who don’t have OCD.

Those tortured with OCD are desperately trying to get away from paralyzing, unending anxiety

OCD is a miscommunication between two parts of the brain

What's it like having OCD?