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Larrissa Nolan Describes Her Experience With "Pure OCD"
Joining Mario for this week`s profile interview was awarding winning journalist Larissa Nolan.
Amongst many things discussed this morning with Larissa , there was one that stood out with our listeners. Larissa described what its like having neurological disorder/mental health condition called OCD and how it can be much misunderstood.
I have a type of OCD called "pure OCD" which is characterised by highly-distressing intrusive thoughts. They are individual to the person but they are often whatever the individual finds most abhorrent, for maximum torment factor.
She describes how she would be constantly obsessively worried by something when she was growing up - be it being worried about knowing about sex, to worrying she would grow up to be a heroin addict, to fixating on the horrors of the Nazis and having to be stopped reading books on their depraved acts. There was no name on it in the 80s, but while she did talk about it at home, often she would try to get on with it because she felt mad. She began to realise after it happening a few times it was like a worm that would make its way out of my head eventually, but it was very difficult dealing with it. She suffered from childhood insomnia and missed a lot of school.
When she got into her 20s she started worrying that she would go mad and kill people and would have horrific mental images of it happening. She tried to cope with this herself until she had a kind of mental break about it one day. She went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed OCD and referred her to a therapist, who she saw for 10 years of CBT. She says she wasn't able to talk about it for years as she was terrified of it and has never spoken of it before.
The encouraging information for our listeners who identified with Larissa is that CBT gave her the skills to manage it and has a different relationship with the disorder this way. Education is the message and empowering yourself with knowledge on what it actually is.
If you have identified or would like further information on how to get help for OCD you can go to the following link here.
Check out this this full chat by pressing the play/listen button on screen
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By Today FMJoining Mario for this week`s profile interview was awarding winning journalist Larissa Nolan.
Amongst many things discussed this morning with Larissa , there was one that stood out with our listeners. Larissa described what its like having neurological disorder/mental health condition called OCD and how it can be much misunderstood.
I have a type of OCD called "pure OCD" which is characterised by highly-distressing intrusive thoughts. They are individual to the person but they are often whatever the individual finds most abhorrent, for maximum torment factor.
She describes how she would be constantly obsessively worried by something when she was growing up - be it being worried about knowing about sex, to worrying she would grow up to be a heroin addict, to fixating on the horrors of the Nazis and having to be stopped reading books on their depraved acts. There was no name on it in the 80s, but while she did talk about it at home, often she would try to get on with it because she felt mad. She began to realise after it happening a few times it was like a worm that would make its way out of my head eventually, but it was very difficult dealing with it. She suffered from childhood insomnia and missed a lot of school.
When she got into her 20s she started worrying that she would go mad and kill people and would have horrific mental images of it happening. She tried to cope with this herself until she had a kind of mental break about it one day. She went to a psychiatrist who diagnosed OCD and referred her to a therapist, who she saw for 10 years of CBT. She says she wasn't able to talk about it for years as she was terrified of it and has never spoken of it before.
The encouraging information for our listeners who identified with Larissa is that CBT gave her the skills to manage it and has a different relationship with the disorder this way. Education is the message and empowering yourself with knowledge on what it actually is.
If you have identified or would like further information on how to get help for OCD you can go to the following link here.
Check out this this full chat by pressing the play/listen button on screen