Living with OCD

Have you ever been to a museum, where you can go in a wheelchair, and get a glimpse of what it's ike to be in a wheelchair everyday of your life? Then, you get up and go on your merry way. I wish there was a way to replicate for someone what it is like to live with OCD. Obssessive Compulsive Disorder. Not that I have it, though that's what the title may lead you to think, but my brother does. There are different kinds of OCD, where the person affected may feel the need to check, double check, triple check, that a door is locked, an oven is off, etc. Another type of OCD, the one my brother has, is he views certain things as being "contaminated" Certain people, generally those homeless, those are 'wrong' in some way, and....whoever he doesn't feel comfortable around. He also views places as being "contaminated", for example, whenever he goes out to school, to theme parks, and ESPECIALLY old places. I don't mean 50 years old, OI mean, like hundreds of years. The car, generally the back of the car, his fishing gear, my computer, the kitten, and the cat...all "contaminated." It's hard to be aroundsomeone who must compulsively wash, or shower, after doing something, going somewhere, touching something. And also insisting that family members wash as well, if they touch something "contaminated" It is incredibly frustrating, in a way that is impossible to convey. Though he has been much better these past couple of years, after he was first diagnosed, it was very hard for a while, and it's gone in swings for the most part ever since. It's hard to explain what it's like on a day to day basis, and I think I'll save that task for another time.