A Quick Introduction.

[ChrisTrondsen]

Hello all! My name is Chris Trondsen. I have OCD that has been treated, and now my life has vastly improved! I am on the board and vice president of OCD Southern California, an official affiliate of the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF), working hard to provide a sense of community, events, and education to sufferers and their loved one's in Southern California. I am proud and excited to be one of the IOCDF's ambassadors. I am also completing a master's program to become licensed and treat OCD and related conditions. I currently work at an OCD treatment center, The Gateway Institute, in Costa Mesa, CA. I am excited to help others with OCD on this forum!

[Tikirob]

Hi. Nice to meet you and congratulations on your incredible accomplishments. Especially since you were able to achieve them with OCD. I wish you luck in your studies. Unfortunately I find International OCD in Mass. to not be a helpful organization for people wit severe OCD. My dealings with them left me so disappointed.

[ChrisTrondsen in reply to Tikirob]

I'm sorry that they have not been helpful. Have you thought about joining their organization and really changing it from with-in to something you feel is more beneficial for the community?! You sound like you would be dedicated to the cause!

[Tikirob in reply to ChrisTrondsen]

No because I spoke with upper management regarding my issue and the lady responded in a typical bureaucratic fashion and I had to use all of my intelligence to get her to even give me some direct feedback on my concerns. Hey people with mental health problems shouldn’t need to get in a war of words just to get some solid answers. I believe I had enough interactions to understand IOCD’s platform. Are you aware they are now hosting and charging lots of money to train social workers on how to diagnose and treat OCD?

[Hidden in reply to Tikirob]

Hi Rob,

I'm sorry to hear that you have not have a positive experience. Please feel free to reach out to us again either by email at "[e-mail]" or phone at 617-973-5801 and we are happy to address any concerns you may have.

[Tikirob in reply to Hidden]

Why would I do that after what I just wrote to you and the fact you did not respond to my question “are you aware....?” This is the stuff I am talking about. We have to in America be able to have candid questions in a public forum about mental health care and agencies both charitable and professional must be open to having direct dialogue with others regarding patient concerns. We the people with OCD are in a early stage of treatment development. Special K, Marijuana, mushrooms and other experimental drugs are being clinically tried against us in controlled environments where patients who are desparate for treatment because of how rediculously expensive it is are volunteering in the hopes of getting 2 months free Exposure Prevention therapy after the drugs and MRIs are performed. We need patient advocacy, as it stands now if you have severe OCD your chances for affordable help are slim and grim. Asking International OCD to focus on this Advocacy is not a risk they should be afraid to take, it is also not a risk NAMI should be afraid to take. We are lucky that you and I have the reading and writing comprehension to communicate like this but think of all the people in the spectrum that cannot and are pushed into horrible places getting minimal or misinformed treatment but have no recourse. I appreciate these groups efforts to at least do something for us and do not want to make the helper the enemy but will not go down the OBEY rabbit hole either. I spent 3 years trying to get OCD treatment. 3 years in the wealthiest city in America. If that’s not enough for them to help than I am knocking on a door where the peephole is fogged up.

[Tikirob in reply to Tikirob]

Also Alex please do me a favor and look at the amount of members here and compare it to the UK group. Why is it so hard to organize OCD groups in the US? I only have one life. OCD takes up most of it. I have the will to promote and help OCD facts to others. It’s really been hard to do that in America.

[Tikirob in reply to Tikirob]

Will you be brave enough to answer? Or will you give a bureaucratic company preserving response? Will you answer and face the fears of making a mistake like OCD sufferers must face everyday of their life or will you have a conference and come up with a ‘safe’ response? Trying to channel me into a controlled area to respond after my concerns after giving a very clear communication as to why I am reluctant to correspond with your agency and is an affirmation of what is so gross about mental health care. I would love to hear a candid response so please answer here on this forum to prove that honesty and forthcomingness is part of your platform.

[Tikirob in reply to Tikirob]

5 days, Alex I am sorry to pressure you an OCD sufferers into a challenged dialogue I know how hard you worked to challenge your OCD and become healthy enough to move on to your career. But as we both know there are OCD sufferers who can’t leave their home, feed themselves, or even touch their own face. The lack of a response here just goes to show how poor this organization is. They send out us to be ambassadors and then go silent. I and another Elder in the OCD have talked in detail about our quests to do peer led ocd groups. I ask you to please teach what you have learned to other ocd people without the minding eye of this sneaky bureaucracy .