The Monster
I once heard it said that mental illness is almost impossible to grasp unless you truly have it. A psychology teacher told me that. Since then, I have wanted to challenge that notion. I have OCD, and I want you to understand everything that means. Imagine you want a glass of water. You go get a glass, right? Me, I go to the cabinet, select a glass, and then I inspect it. I am looking for poison. You may ask yourself why a person would do that. Well, if you believed there was a chance you might pick a glass with poison, wouldn’t you check too? Now, picture you’re very thirsty. You just want a glass of water. But the first, second, third, and fourth glasses were in the “maybe containing deadly toxin” pile. Eventually, you decide to risk it. Now the rest of your day is wondering when you’ll get sick: when death will arrive. In your mind, you prepare for the last few hours of your life. Stress increases as you wonder if it will hurt. Your behavior gets even more erratic; after all you’re a...