Short documentary about OCD and the people who suffer from it. It includes interviews with two OCD sufferers and the hea | dG1fanF0clhCWjlSYWc
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Short filmTranscript
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00:08 And when I do leave, I'll lock the door.
00:12 And then I have to push it just to make sure it's
00:15 definitely locked, even though I know that I've locked it.
00:18 And I walk away from it.
00:19 And then sometimes I have to go back.
00:20 Well, usually always I go back and I push it again to make
00:23 sure it's definitely shut.
00:24 And sometimes I try with the keys again.
00:26 It'll open it again and shut it just to make sure it's
00:28 definitely--
00:30 and then sometimes I can go all the way down the stairs.
00:32 And I need to come back up and do it.
00:33 I mean, it can be anything from over cleaning,
00:36 disinfecting things in my house, to rituals that I have
00:41 every day that I need to perform.
00:43 And I also get under a lot of stress.
00:45 And it can be quite distressing anyway.
00:48 But it does kind of interfere in my life.
00:53 For instance, when I'm going to meet someone new, unless I'm
00:56 wearing gloves, I might not shake their hands.
00:58 It might make me feel uncomfortable to do that.
01:00 It's mainly about turning things off and unplugging
01:03 things, but that's what it is.
01:04 It's changed through the years.
01:05 I've done different things.
01:06 But it's like when I leave, or when I go to leave the house,
01:10 I have to go around and check everything's off a million
01:13 times, make sure everything's unplugged.
01:15 And when it's in the kitchen and it's a gas thing and I
01:17 have to check they're all at zero, there's five, and I have
01:20 to count one, two, three, four, five.
01:22 It makes me late for everything.
01:25 It stresses me out.
01:26 And it means by the time I leave the house, I'm just in a
01:29 bit of a state.
01:32 OCD is an anxiety disorder.
01:35 And it has certain elements.
01:38 One is compulsion to have particular thoughts, thoughts
01:41 that are worrying and upsetting.
01:45 Also compulsions to perhaps do things like to check all the
01:49 time, rituals that you have to go through in order to ensure
01:53 your safety.
01:54 I tend to wash my hands quite often, probably a lot more
01:58 often than anyone else.
02:00 And if I'm not able to get anywhere to wash my hands, I'll
02:02 carry antibacterial gel in my pocket.
02:06 Also, if I see someone coming towards me in the street and I
02:08 don't particularly like the look of them, I might put my
02:11 hand over my mouth or pull my scarf or my hair over so I
02:14 don't have to breathe where they're breathing.
02:19 When I go out of a room, I sometimes will
02:22 switch the light off.
02:23 And then, repetitively switch it on and off.
02:26 Before I can leave the room, I have to do it a certain amount
02:29 of times.
02:29 It was more like discussing OCD with other people.
02:34 I didn't know it had a title.
02:36 And it was this actual thing.
02:37 It was just like when I was younger.
02:39 And just now, I've always done things.
02:40 And I never knew when I was younger what it was.
02:44 But when I spoke to friends about it, it's like other
02:46 people do these things.
02:47 And there's an actual condition.
02:48 And then, I've been to a therapist since.
02:52 So I know that's what it is.
02:54 I realized I had OCD probably when I was about 15 or 16
02:58 years old.
03:00 I think that what caused it was maybe a combination of
03:04 two things.
03:05 My mother also suffers from OCD.
03:07 And two years previous to when I first discovered I had it,
03:13 we had an unfortunate death in the family.
03:15 And my father passed away, which obviously endured a lot
03:19 of stress because of that.
03:21 So it was really bad.
03:22 When my mom died or when I miscarried and stuff, it
03:25 always gets worse.
03:28 But I don't know why it would have started in the first
03:30 place.
03:31 I don't understand enough about it to know.
03:34 It's difficult to know really what causes it because
03:37 there's still a lot of research required.
03:39 It may be that there's a biological predisposition to
03:42 it through some sort of mechanical fault, if you like,
03:46 in how the brain functions or some chemical element of how
03:50 the brain functions.
03:51 But also environmental influences, like negative
03:55 childhood experiences might be involved.
03:58 Because things have gotten worse, I'm on a waiting list
04:00 for CBT, which they say won't take that long, maybe six
04:07 weeks or something.
04:08 So it's really just because I can handle things myself, I
04:12 think, but it's just for the kids.
04:15 If you can, pass it on to them.
04:16 And I don't know when that's stressing me.
04:18 I think that's making it worse.
04:19 Cognitive behavioral therapy is often used to try and
04:24 change the way people think.
04:26 And as part of OCD is having compulsive thoughts, is having
04:33 the same thought recurring and the same negative thoughts
04:36 recurring and the same dangers associated with not
04:39 completing ritual behaviors, then trying to change the way
04:42 somebody thinks in order to change their behavior can be
04:46 quite productive and is sometimes used as a treatment
04:49 for OCD.
04:52 For those who think it's perhaps biologically caused,
04:55 and for those who think that chemical
04:57 treatments can be useful--
04:58 or a couple of the drugs that are used are drugs that
05:03 prevent the uptake of serotonin.
05:06 Serotonin is a chemical that operates in the brain.
05:10 It's a neurotransmitter.
05:11 And that seems to be quite helpful for OCD.
05:14 It seems to prevent some of the anxiety and some of the
05:17 ritual behavior.
05:18 I just go into chat rooms online.
05:21 There's also a self-help group that I go to once a month with
05:24 other sufferers.
05:25 And we discuss our symptoms and ways to make each other's
05:28 lives easier.
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