A week ago, I wrote an entry about the simplistic inspirational phrases that are appearing on the Internet, many of which have religious overtones. These phrases are intended to give people support and help them get through tough times. This may help with common, minor problems that people have all the time, but major problems they fall far short for giving any kind of comfort and often has the opposite effect; it makes one feel worse.

In the homily that I quoted in that post, there was the phrase that we are not given more than we can bear. I have always disliked this philosophy, because it trivializes the suffering of the person. In fact, all homilies do, as they attempt to solve complex problems with a few sentences.

Besides, it is not true, as I mentioned in the entry; some people have problems that are greater than they can bear. One of which I mentioned was OCD; Obessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Anyone who knows anything about OCD knows that the inflict person’s life is a living hell.

Brain and Behavior Research Foundation describes OCD as the following:

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is an anxiety disorder and is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Repetitive behaviors such as handwashing, counting or cleaning are often performed with the hope of preventing obsessive thoughts or making them go away. Performing these so-called “rituals,” however, provides only temporary relief, and not performing them markedly increases anxiety [http://bbrfoundation.org/ocd].

Many of us may laugh and say that they have OCD, when they check their front door five times to make sure it was locked or if they have a certain ritual of checks that they do before leaving the house.

Often times for the OCD person it is not about logically knowing the door is locked or double-checking it even though you just had, it more about feeling that it is locked. If it doesn’t feel right they have to do it again. As a guest on Anderson Cooper’s show, “Anderson,” Howie Mandel spoke of spending an hour jiggling the handle of his front door. He spoke of how certain things like shaking a person’s hand will start an uncontrollable spiral of thoughts that would take control of him.

On this same program Anderson had another guest, who is inflicted with a severe case of OCD. She even described her own life as hell. Her life is full of one ritual after another, each performed over again, until it feels right.

As I was watching the hell that was her life, she explained that even though she could see it was and knew logically that it was right, she would repeat it until it felt right. These unwanted thoughts have taken control of her life.

In the video clips of her relentlessly repeating these mindless rituals, I could see the exhaustion and utter hopelessness. She is religious and prays at night. Anderson asked her what she prays for at night. She answered with tears in her eyes that she sometimes prays that she will never wake up; that God will take her — there is no OCD in heaven.

Her OCD is greater than she can bear. What she needs is more than the comfort of inspirational phrases or praying to God can give her. What Anderson Cooper offered her on his show was genuine help of professionals for treatment.

Anderson: OCD is Ruining My Life [http://www.andersoncooper.com/episodes/ocd-is-ruining-my-life-and-howie-mandel]