"OCD & Perfectionism"

Calling for help

Since the time I started living on my own in the UK, I started noticing certain patterns of behaviors developing in me such as cleaning my utensils and saying clean out loud, using the toilets and checking numerous times and saying clean before heading out, switching off the appliances not in use and saying off out loud, checking messages/emails numerous times before sending them and rechecking them once sent, I was afraid I was losing my mind and might become like my grand mother who suffered from mental illness, after doing some research, I realized I might have OCD and tried to get some help.

Things to do

I started attending sessions at the Dundee Adult Psychological Therapy Service where my therapist helped me learn that I might also be striving for perfectionism as I always had this mental checklist to tick off, or had to do things that I had planned without fail. The loss of my father has also made me feel worse about my life and everything in it and most times I feel I am struggling more because of the grief of his sudden passing away.

Seeing the whole me

I would like to thank my therapist Matthew who has provided me with so much information to understand me better. We also went through many calming techniques for when I felt anxious and gave me this safe space to discuss my thoughts which I would otherwise just keep to myself. The different habits we tried to build together to control my OCD traits had really helped me and for that I will forever be indebted to Matt.

Future plans

I know things don't change overnight and for me to control my OCD habits and the perfectionist attitude will be an ongoing journey that I want to be a part of and help my future self take care of myself in a healthy way.