Being diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) at the age of 22 Bakersfield College Counselor of Business, Jonathan Schultz did not receive popper help until the age of 32. Now Schultz is wanting to help people overcome their OCD by writing a book called, “OBSESSED! A couple’s story living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and their strategies on how to deal with this condition.”

For those who don’t know what Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as Schultz explains, “OCD is an anxiety disorder that causes certain thoughts, images and feelings to get “stuck” in your head. This causes immense anxiety, pain and fear.” Schultz’s talks about how OCD affects people’s mental health. “To get rid of the anxiety people perform rituals or “compulsions “’ to make the feelings go away. But compulsions only give momentary relief and the thought or feelings will just come back harder” said Schultz. If OCD is left untreated or treated incorrectly and there are horrible outcomes.

These outcomes are, “Immense fear, anxiety and panic, losing jobs and suicide” says Schultz. Some common OCD that Schultz explained was, “Relationship OCD (fear you do not love your partner) Scrupulosity OCD (a fear you are going against or have done something against your religion or spiritual belief), Sexual orientation OCD (the fear or thought you are “turning” into the opposite of what your gender identity is. So some straight people think they are turning gay or gay people think they are turning straight) this is different than being non-binary or questioning your orientation.”

Most often OCD is a misunderstood mental health condition and Schultz explains why that is, “Normally people think that if you have OCD you have to have everything neat and in order, or you just constantly wash your hands. While those are symptoms of OCD there are so many more things people deal with.”

One example that Schultz explained is “Some get thoughts stuck in their head that they are going crazy or that they will be fired at work.” Some advice that Schultz would give to others with OCD is, “You have to go to someone who specializes in OCD. Traditional therapy will not work and if the therapist is not specifically trained in OCD they can hurt you more than help you.”

If Schultz could go back in time to his younger self he would say, “Get the appropriate help sooner…..but, if I did I may never have wrote this book so I think it worked out for the best to help the greater good.” If interested in purchasing Schultz’s book head over to amazon.com