Penny Moodie often felt confused and like she was "going insane" a lot of the time.She didn't realise until her early 30s that she had obsessive-compulsive disorder .OCD is a mental health condition that involves intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviours known as compulsions.
She said referring to OCD as "something that's a bit cute or funny" is "a slap in the face" for those living with it every day, and part of the reason it can take so long to receive support.Penny's obsessions and compulsions began in primary school, in the form of rumination and seeking reassurance. But when she got home and her mum welcomed her in, Penny said her mind was "hijacked by a barrage of thoughts":
The misunderstandings surrounding OCD mean receiving a formal diagnosis can often take more than a decade."No one else knew what it was, so I was very isolated in those 10 years before I had a diagnosis". "Going through treatment is about learning how OCD works, learning how it shifts over time, learning how to treat it, and learning how to manage it so that relapse episodes are more and more infrequent," Dr Gelgec said.