Mental Health Notes - News, Education and Advocacy

February 29th, 2008

Untreated OCD Leads To Severe Complications

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 7
Now that you know more about available treatment and management options for obsessive-compulsive disorder, let’s talk a bit about what happens if you leave your OCD untreated and unmanaged.
It’s not a pretty picture, folks.

When ignored, OCD can:

Make you feel like a prisoner. Your OCD may […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 6 comments

February 29th, 2008

Treatment And Management Options For OCD

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 6
Once you’ve been properly diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, there are three main categories of treatment and management options for you: psychotherapy, medications, and self-care.
Psychotherapy
The Mayo Clinic gives a great, thorough definition of psychotherapy.
In short, psychotherapy is effective for both children and adults, and the form […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 5 comments

February 29th, 2008

How Will Your Doctor Diagnosis Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 5
We’ve hit the halfway point and it’s all downhill from here. Feeling any more educated about obsessive-compulsive disorder? Sure you are.
Now that you know the signs, symptoms, causes of, and risk factors for OCD, how do you know when it’s time to talk to a […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 2 comments

February 28th, 2008

Are You At Risk For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 4
Recently we discussed the definition of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as the two categories its signs and symptoms are separated into - obsessions and compulsions. Because about 2.2 million Americans have OCD (according to the National Institute of Mental Health; I don’t even know […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 6 comments

February 28th, 2008

Compulsions: Those Nasty Little Responses To Obsessions

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 3
Now that we’ve covered one of the main categories of signs and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - the obsessions - let’s take a look at the other category - the compulsions.
In the case of OCD, a compulsion is a repetitive behavior you feel driven […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 3 comments

February 27th, 2008

Obsessions: We Ain’t Talking Wentworth Miller Here, Folks.

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 2
Earlier we discussed the definition, signs, and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Now, let’s dig a bit deeper into one of the main OCD signs and symptoms - the obsessions.
You probably have a pretty decent, working idea of what an obsession is. Many of us […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 6 comments

February 27th, 2008

OCD Defined: The Category, Signs, And Symptoms

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries - Part 1
To start I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries here at Mental Health Notes, I thought we’d begin with the basics. Simply put, what is OCD and what are the signs and symptoms of OCD?
What is OCD?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, is an anxiety disorder […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 5 comments

February 26th, 2008

I Must Shave My Legs: The OCD Miniseries

February’s meeting of my NAMI affiliate group covered obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). So many interesting points were covered during the meeting that there’s no way I could cover it all in one Mental Health Notes post, like I promised; therefore, I’ve decided to do a sort of “OCD miniseries” - exciting, right?
Thanks to my own “touch […]

By Alicia Sparks, Mental Health Notes -- 4 comments