There is hope!

[Flamewheel]

Hi,

My name is Summer and I am currently in a partial hospitalization program for my OCD. I just finished my fifth week of the program. Therapy has been excruciatingly painful at times, but I have been making progress. I just wanted to share words of encouragement that there is hope for even the most severe cases of OCD. I have suffered from OCD since I was 8, although I wasn't diagnosed until I was 18 and didn't start receiving the proper treatment until I was 24. I am 28 this July and I haven't been able to hold down a full time job in my adult life, despite having a bachelor's degree. I suffered from depression for several years and lost my mom to cancer when I was 22. But I have come on the other side of that, and I am now coming on the other side of my OCD. I have been fortunate enough to have had a mother who provided for me even after her death, and though it has been very hard financially, I have been able to receive treatment. It's still hard, and I'll probably be in treatment for months. But good therapy is starting to become more available and accessible, and organizations like Rogers have generous donors who help others afford treatment. The tools I have been learning have been life-changing. I hope to one day share what I have learned through a blog and through future work as a clinician. Once I get my symptoms under control, I hope to go back to school to become an OCD specialist. There aren't enough treatment providers out there. I want to dedicate my life to helping others with OCD.

Treatment is very hard work, but recovery is possible. I am proof that even those with unfortunate circumstances like mine can overcome this disorder. I want to leave you all with a poem I wrote while I was in residential treatment a couple of years ago:

Falling like a sparrow in the sky

Weary, fragile, burned

To the pits in the depths of the earth

Where darkness is my only companion

A faint light, I see, rising from the depths

Like a little lightning bug

Swarming, buzzing around me

All I see are the few steps in front of me

The way out, the light knows

Just have to follow it

Just have to trust it

And one day I will see spring again

One day it will be summer

And the little light will lead me

Out of the pit of darkness

And I will be free

Like a raven soaring in the sky

Above the toxic wasteland

Where it can trap me no more

And steal no more of my joy

How I long for that day

To be free of my chains of darkness

Lord, set me free

I hope I can encourage someone today. Know you are not alone. Hang in there. People with OCD are some of the strongest and most resilient people I know.

[Joeyman]

Hey Flamewheel, I am so glad to hear that you are getting better. I too am on a similar journey as yours. OCD dragged me to depths that I never thought of but with medication and a lot of support from my family, I think I am slowly finding my way back. I sometimes think that OCD is a way the universe teaches us to explore life in ways we would otherwise not be able to. Your experience is truly inspiring to me. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

P.S. That was a great poem.

[JoeS00]

Glad to hear that flamewheel. It is a hard path to experience OCD. It gets disabling but I agree. Recovery is possible.

[nkotbjoeymc]

So Sorry To Hear About This.

[DeathtoOCD]

Yes, there is always hope to recover, it can be really tough, I went though hell to get better and in treatment, it was not easy, but, no matter how bad, there is always the chance to recover from it. I wish you luck on your journey, there needs to be more people that understand OCD and can help people with it, it is sadly very common, but many do not know how to treat it effectively.