Obsessive compulsive disorder is a chronic mental disorder in which a person has uncontrollable recurring thoughts or behaviors or both. An obsession is a non-consensual fixation on a person, place, thing, event, or fear. The repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images can cause extreme and illogical anxiety or strong avoidances. A person with OCD may have to deal with thoughts that they do not want, do not mean, or do not understand, including urges toward violence, thoughts of self-harm, or images of terrible events that have not come to pass. Additionally, the powerful repetition can instill fear of germs or contamination, or the brain can be convinced that a single way to do things is the only acceptable way which often manifests as the need for symmetry and precision. Compulsions are irresistible actions or behaviors that are done repeatedly to the point of no longer having the ability to choose whether or not to perform this ritual or behavior and are connected to an obsessive thought. They are a coping mechanism that the mind creates subconsciously to counteract or neutralize the obsessive thoughts. For example, if the obsessive thought is that your parents are going to die in the night while you are all sleeping, your brain may provide a compulsion to prevent this event. So, without choice you say the same phrase to your parents every night before you go to bed to make sure that they do not die in the night. This can be helpful to manage obsessive thoughts, but when something happens to prevent the ritual, like your being at camp with no way to call your parents every night, the obsessive thought gets stronger and can cause extreme distress.
If you have OCD, or think you may have OCD, speak with an adult you trust, consider the resources provided, and remember that mental illnesses cause your brain to lie to you; you are not valuable because of what you do or what you contribute but because you are a person, though you may feel out of control you can control what matters, bad things are not caused by a failure to perform a ritual but performing a ritual in the hopes of preventing bad things is not a sin, you brain may convince you of things other find absurd but that does not make you or your needs absurd, you may not objectively need to do something but it is okay if you need to do it, you are not a sideshow act or a cleaning tool but are a human being. OCD, like any mental health issue, is never the fault of the sick person, it is the product of genetics, brain chemistry, and circumstances.
