This morning I met with a client who is still in the early stages of treatment. “Hi! It’s so good to see you!” – he greeted me with a big smile. Over the next 50 minutes we briefly discussed his vacation, noticed where OCD had gotten in the way of the fun, and a talked about a time that he was able to resist the OCD’s pull and thereby avoid a typical fight with a loved one for the first time. We practiced a relaxation exercise, then intentionally teased the OCD, dropping some things on the floor in defiance of OCD’s call for perfection and order. Five minutes later, my client was surprised to realize he had actually forgotten the mess while talking about other things. We took a minute to laugh and celebrate. Then, before the end of the session, we made a list of tools to continue practicing (breathe, delay, decide) and a plan for the following week.
Many years ago, someone had diagnosed an executive functioning disorder in this individual. Guess what – the concentration problems were all just OCD distracting him and making him need to do things over, and over, and over again. In fact, he has excellent executive functioning when OCD is in remission, and finding out about OCD was like turning on the light in a room that had been dark his whole life.
So that’s why I love my job. I get to turn on the light with people. I know there will be tough times ahead, moments when OCD wins, when I have to keep encouraging through pain and distress, even times where I may say the wrong thing. But none of that matters compared to the moments of connection, knowing I’ve helped someone understand what is getting in their way, and how to over-come it. That is total joy.
*note: details changed to preserve confidentiality.