I am going to give this blogging thing another try.  So even though I know nothing about meta tags or anything else about blogs except how to write and post one, I will continue to write.

There are so many things about OCD that I could write.  I have chosen to start with a more "looking from the outside in" kind of view instead of my day-to-day battle.  I don't want to go into details about my struggle with the disorder without first writing about the disorder itself and what it entails.

The problem is that I am not a doctor, researcher, scientist, or psychiatrist.  So I can only write what I have learned about the disorder from living it for 17 years, reading about it, and talking to other people who suffer from it.

What OCD is NOT: it is not being a "neat-freak"

      it is not obsessing over having everything "perfect" or "in place"

Can a person with OCD have these qualities? Yes.  But they are not in and of themselves evidence of the disorder.

Basically, the behaviors and compulsions are not OCD unless they significantly hinder you in your day-to-day activities.  For example, if you have so much anxiety about whether or not you left the iron on that you need to take it in the car with you on your way to work, you don't have OCD.  But if you take the iron with you, and check every window lock three times, and make your husband look at the oven and verify that yes, it is indeed off and then then finally leave for work an hour late -- that is OCD.  

No, I don't do any of the things listed in the paragraph above.  People with those behaviors are considered "checkers".  Checkers are the second most common form of OCD.  Number one is contamination fears, or "washers".  That is what I have.  And that is a subject for another blog post. . .