Dear Parents,

I know it is tough seeing your child suffer the way that OCD makes them do. I know it is hard when you feel powerless to help them. I know that all you want is to take away their pain, to make it vanish.

I just want you to know that it doesn’t help. It doesn’t help to prevent us doing our compulsions, to remove objects or things that we use to calm ourselves down, to hide things just because we use too much. You may think that this will help, but it aggravates the situation and makes us feel ashamed and embarrassed.

We don’t want to be ill either, we don’t want to be trapped with intrusive thoughts 24/7. We want to get better, but removing stressful situations will not help, it will just make our anxiety worse.

Just remember that we will recover. It will take time, effort and uncomfortable situations, but we will get there.
Your constant support brings us through the worst of days, the hardest of times and we appreciate that completely. I know that it’s hard for you to see us like this, but it will get better.

Thanks so much for everything,

Lena