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Obsessive-compulsive disorder, better known as OCD, is estimated to impact the lives of about 2.2 million Americans. Signs of this disorder occur in individuals as young as 7 years.

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Although there are a great deal of people afflicted with this disorder, many Americans are unaware of how living with OCD truly controls a person's life. To help clear the confusion, a teenager, who asked to be kept anonymous, so will be given the alias,Olivia, made perfectly clear the day to day struggles of this.

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To be clear, Olivia does not have OCD where she must keep everything organized, neat and perfect. In fact, Olivia lives with the type of OCD where if she does not complete a certain task a specific amount of times, she begins to believe that something terrible will occur to someone she holds dear in her life.

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According to Olivia, “It's very controlling in a way, very compulsive or whatever. I don’t do something until it feels ‘just right;’ then, I get anxious, and I feel like I don’t simply want to go and perform that certain activity a certain amount of times, but I feel like I HAVE to.”

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The sad truth is that OCD controls a person's life and that is something Olivia and 2.2 million other Americans must accept.

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As Olivia states, people with OCD cannot just magically change their ways. According to her, “I’ve been like this since I was around 8 years old and it's been such a big part of my life because I have lived like this for so long. The worst part is when people tell me ‘oh nothing is going to happen if you don’t do this or that until it feels right’. I wish that was true. Nobody seems to understand that I cannot change my ways.”

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In hopes to heed others’ advice, Olivia mentioned that there are times when she tries to disregard her impulses, but her anxiety gets the better, as well as the OCD.

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Hopefully, after reading this, more Americans will understand what people living with this condition must go through on a daily basis.

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For those without OCD, be thankful you are not part of the 2.2 million who suffer on a daily basis, as Olivia so dearly wishes not to be.

Living with OCD

By PETER MARDJONOVIC

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