Howie Mandel's OCD: Checking the Door for Hours

I am watching today's episode on OCD. I am 50 years old and have had OCD as long as I can remember. One thing the professional failed to state is that OCD is An anxiety disorder. Although Jennifer definitely has OCD I functioned with many obsessions and compulsions (every person has their own) although there are common areas such as order and symmetry, checking and counting, safety, praying, cleanliness, etc. An individual can be effected by one or a combination of the areas and they can change as time goes on. I am also a nurse and at age 34 I worked with a doc that recognized by my understanding of others with OCD that I must have it. "it takes one to know one" is what he said after a weekly meeting at work in a facility where we reviewed behaviors of our clients. I was petrified of having a psych diagnoses and resisted treatment in the beginning. He told me it could be treated with antidepressant therapy (SSRIs). One pill a day and I could have my life back. The reason people have OCD may differ but the mechanism in the brain is the same. Anxiety brings on the obsession for instance fear of safety, the ritual relieves the anxiety so the individual checks the door lock. The message that the door is locked is being sent by the brain but as a result in low seratonin (neurotransmitter in the brain) the message falls short of meeting the area it needs to reach, the individual checks the lock again and the message may shoot left or right of the targeted area so this compulsion continues to be repeated until the message hits the right area if it ever does! What antidepressants (SSRIs) do is amp up the chemical necessary to make the message stick. It is actually a pyhsiological need.....like insulin to a diabetic ( a shortage of a necessary chemical).Patients do have success with cognitive therapy most extreme cases may need both medication and therapy. For me the medication was almost miraculous I felt like I had my life back. I still have OCD but it is very manageable, it no longer takes me hours to walk away from the rituals I may check the door but I check it once or twice and walk away without anxiety (at my worst my husband told me to stop trying checking the door knobs and gate, I had literally loosened the bolts and broke the gate checing it so much!!) The more anxiety a person has the behavior is magnified. I took the time to explain this because I used to cry and feel helpless and spent countless hours doing things that friends and family thought I was "nuts" to do. I'm still neat, like order, and am safety conscious I just don't spend near as much time and feel a fraction of the anxiety. I was very grateful to have someone explain this to me I hope that my story can help others seek help and get their lives back.