Recently I was getting some medical paperwork together in preparation to go to see a new gynecologist (I have endometriosis in addition to obsessive compulsive disorder). One paper from the office of the doctor who performed my laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis listed various diagnoses for me. There, listed among their diagnoses were not only endometriosis but fatigue,…
The other day I read an article from LDS Living entitled “Prophets and Apostles Share Their Personal Experience with Mental Illness.” I was surprised and pleased to see LDS Living addressing such subject matter, of course, but then I found myself agreeing with one commenter after the article who addressed the issue I want to…
Mental illnesses are invariably tricky. With many physical illnesses or diseases, the symptoms are fairly cut and dry—or there are scientific, diagnostic tests that prove you do or don’t have a given condition. But a mental illness, well, that’s another story. Because mental illnesses are linked with our thoughts and feelings, we tend to wallow…
Back during my Seattle OCD days, one of my friends introduced me to the idea of scrupulosity. Basically, it is religious OCD, though I didn’t really connect it with obsessive compulsive disorder at the time. It hearkens back to the idea of OCD taking over what matters to you and making your obsessions relate to…
This question of “Is a diagnosis important?” may seem a bit strange. Some people might say, “Of course!” while others might have more reservations, like “Well, how old is the individual? What are we talking about exactly?” I’ve been thinking lately about these related topics: diagnoses, labels, stigmas. I’ve been reading a lot of books about…