How can i help her OCD?!
Question: i have mild OCD but i think i cope with it and try to resist compulsive thoughts, i've always tried to not let it control me and i think i am doing ok but the problem is my sister has OCD that she won't admit to. I've never admitted mine to her so i can't talk to her about it but she won't tell anyone. I know it's really effecting her life and i feel angry and let down that she's not even trying to control it. I know it's really selfish but i hate watching it control her life. I know she's not even trying.
How can i help her?
Answers: i have mild OCD but i think i cope with it and try to resist compulsive thoughts, i've always tried to not let it control me and i think i am doing ok but the problem is my sister has OCD that she won't admit to. I've never admitted mine to her so i can't talk to her about it but she won't tell anyone. I know it's really effecting her life and i feel angry and let down that she's not even trying to control it. I know it's really selfish but i hate watching it control her life. I know she's not even trying.
How can i help her?
The scary thing about OCD is that most of the time, those who have it are in that famous Egyptian river..."De Nile." Here's a question to consider...how much of your desire to "fix" her OCD is part of YOUR disorder?
I want all to be perfect and right in my OCD world, too...I want all my family and friends to be 100% mentally healthy as much as I want my books lined up either alphabetically or by height...why can't they write alphabetically by height??? :-)
If you can share your own experiences as, "hey, this is how I feel/act...could this be related to the fact you have your spices alphabetized and can't leave the house without relocking it 15 (and only 15) times?"
If you just want her to change so you can feel okay, then give it up for now. Find something else to obsess over...I know you can, from personal experience <smiles gently>.
get well yourself then prove to her there is a way out. Maybe shes scared of admitting the truth as it would then seem like its impossible to getr well or live normally.
if its mild she can get rid of it. but for us people with moderate to disabling OCD we can't. its life long. (moderate OCD right here)
Hi
Please use this link to the Mind website
Understanding OCD:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Bookl...
the information is easy to read and understand.
It should offer practical advice that will benefit both you and your sister.
Unfortunately you cannot force your sister to admit that she is suffering from this even though you feel as a sufferer yourself you recognise the signs. It may be that she doesn't realise what she is doing or that it is causing any adverse affects in her life.
An option would be for you to have an honest and open conversation about your own problems with OCD and see if she opens up to you about anything that she is worrying about, or behaviour that she hasn't acknowledged in herself.
Hope this helps.
I suggest you find some details of symptoms of OCD and print them off, leave the list lying around somewhere, where she's likely to find it, or even be open with her about your condition.
Anybody that has any kind of Mental Health Illness isn't going to try and do anything about it, or ask for help, until they actually recognize it themselves.
You can't just tell somebody that they're Depressed, Bi-Polar, Schizophrenic, etc. or suffering from SAD or OCD, but you can help them possibly recognize some of the symptoms in themselves.
If you're open with your Sister, and point out some of the things that Obsess you, it may help her, but don't badger her, try and let her come to her own realisation.
People who are suffering from particular illnesses, such as Drug Addiction, Alcoholism or Mental Health, are more likely to interact with somebody that has been through it, or is going through it and recovering, because no matter how good the training, or the text books, if you haven't been there you don't know what it's like, and you can't even begin to imagine.
Hope I've been of some help, and the best of luck.