What If I Don’t Get Help

Obsessions can interfere with your thinking process.  Left untreated, these recurring thoughts and urges can decrease your ability to concentrate and interfere with short-term memory.  Compulsions consume valuable time and drain your energy – both physically and mentally.  They force you to focus on details and insignificant – even nonexistent – issues, rather than what’s important.

Many people with mild to moderate OCD just live with it – they’re miserable, but somehow they get by.  Without treatment, however, symptoms are likely to get worse and take up more and more time and energy – severely limiting a person’s time and capacity to study, work, and socialize with friends and family.  Students with untreated OCD risk:

  • Academic failure
  • Social isolation
  • Physical and emotional exhaustion
  • Developing secondary disorders, such as depression or substance abuse.

In extreme cases, people with untreated OCD can become completely incapacitated, housebound, and even suicidal.  Fortunately, effective treatment is available.  Talk to someone at your student counseling center or health service about Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT).  CBT is the treatment that has helped many thousands of people regain control over what can be a heartbreaking disorder.

Learn more about Cognitive Behavior Therapy

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