News
What Does OCD Look Like?
The Obsessive
Compulsive Foundation’s first-ever
public awareness campaign is on the
air on your local TV station now –
and will be running for the next six
months. A 19-year old University of
Houston student, Elizabeth
McIngvale, is the new national
spokesperson for the OCF.
The campaign,“What Does OCD Look Like?”
is targeted at the more than half-million
teenagers in America with OCD.
“I want people to know that those of us who suffer with OCD are not freaks. OCD is a mental illness. We don’t have to be ashamed, and we don’t have to suffer in silence,” says McIngvale who was diagnosed with OCD at the age of 13. McIngvales’ OCD was so severe that it was believed at one time to be untreatable. Contamination issues made her a prisoner to washing her hands 75-100 times a day. Her compulsions meant locking the door 42 times, sitting up and down in her chair 42 times, and washing her hair 42 times, before she could move on to her next activity. Eventually, she was hospitalized and treated at the Menninger Clinic.
McIngvale was interviewed on April 4th on “Good Morning America.” She talked about her OCD and how she beat it in a series of media appearances in the next several months.
In coordination with the Foundation’s National Public Awareness Campaign, the OCF’s web site was updated and redesigned. Visit www.ocfoundation.org and tell us what you think.
