The Blarney Bear

Before I first started going to therapy, I had no idea what to expect. I had seen therapy sessions in TV shows and had a feeling that the typical 'lying on a couch' impression that TV shows give wasn't a very accurate depiction, but apart from that, I had no idea what to expect. I've now been in and out of therapy for about 3 years and I've picked up a few tips along the way that I wish I had known before I started. I've put these together in this post but I should say from the outset that I'm not a therapist of any kind and these are just based on my experiences. You may find that your experience is totally different. 1. Be honest, don't hold back I find it best to leave nothing unsaid in my therapy sessions. Admittedly, I've said things in sessions that I can't believe I've actually said aloud and I've sometimes been a little embarrassed afterwards but I've always been glad that I did it. I've been in therapy more th...

For my first post, I'd like to talk about the misuse of the term 'OCD' and what that means for those of use who truly have the disorder. I've been struggling with OCD for the last 5 years - in all honesty, I have memories of carrying out compulsions a long time before that, maybe about 10/12 years ago, but things have really escalated quite badly over the last 5 years. When I first admitted to my family that I was carrying out compulsions, they could not have been more supportive and if they had any doubts about the severity of the problem, they never discussed it with me. Even when I really started to open up about how many compulsions I was doing, they did their best to understand. My experience with my friends was different - people immediately either commented that I wasn't particularly occupied with cleanliness and germs, or they told me that they too have OCD because they likes things to be done in a certain way. Even my doctor suggested that I didn't re...