Blogs

When did it become okay for friends to have strong opinions about my diet, lifestyle and marriage? I grew up in a world where you supported your friends no matter what, and the only grounds for dumping a friend was if they were unpleasant directly to YOU.

Nowadays, it seems the rules of friendship have changed. You can be friends with someone for years, yet God help you if you...

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions), that produce a sense of dread or alarm. Persons then engage in repetitive behaviors (compulsions) in an attempt to rid themselves of the obsessive thoughts and calm the anxiety.

If you suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, then the chances are you will relate to most of the following points:

1) Are your thoughts...

 

I constantly feel like a bad mother.   Other parents seem to have boundless time and energy to expose their children to all experiences necessary for them to hit every developmental milestone spot on, whilst also holding down a full time job. They take their babies to swimming classes - I would rather torch myself alive than bring one live skin cell into contact with a public pool changing room. They do baby...

So you’ve just experienced the miracle of birth. Isn’t it wonderful. And now you are the proud and exhausted mum of the cutest little angel in the world. Family and friends come over to coo. Everyone is smiling and celebrating this new life.

Well, everyone that is except certain individuals, who for reasons known only to themselves, are incapable of being supportive and can’t resist saying the most insensitive things.

People say the darnedest things. And sometimes they say the most insensitive things. Whilst it’s great that obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) has received enough media attention that it’s no longer a dirty secret, it is obvious that many people still fail to understand the true severity of this anxiety disorder. When people say things like “I’m so OCD about that,” what they don’t get is that were they really suffering from...

Just because someone you trust is setting you up on a blind date, don’t assume that it’s safe! Even the most well intentioned friend or family member may accidentally introduce you to someone dangerous. After all how well do our friends and family know the object of the set up? If they knew them oh so well, then chances are we’d probably know them too. This is why it is...

When I was a child, before I’d ever heard of the term obsessive compulsive disorder, I didn’t know what to make of my thoughts, other than that they were embarrassing and had to be kept secret at all costs.

Fortunately today, OCD is well recognized, so most people have heard of it. However, without personally experiencing the horror of OCD symptoms, it’s unlikely...

You may have a partner with OCD, or you might be considering starting a relationship, but hesitant because the object of your affections has OCD. It can certainly be challenging if a person’s symptoms threaten to interfere with all the fun you’d like to have. But then again, nobody’s perfect. We all have something that nags us.

I've met many people with OCD, and without exception, they have been sweet, humble, empathic...

There are people in the world who don't care about love, and who feel no remorse, empathy or emotional attachment to others. They don't even know what these feeling are. These people are called sociopaths. Most people think of a sociopath as a deranged serial killer, but, with 4% of the population having the character traits of a sociopath, most sociopaths never physically harm anyone. Sociopaths do however ruin lives, empty...

During the holidays most of us are thrown headfirst into social situations whether we like it or not. There’s the work holiday party, friend’s parties where everyone is trying to be more dynamic than the next person, and those memorable family gatherings where relatives think it’s okay to squeeze your face just because they haven’t seen you in a year. Some of it may make you nervous, and some may bore...