How I Put My OCD to Good Use
by Patricia E. Moniot, Jamestown, NY

I have learned some coping skills in dealing with my diagnoses of bipolar affective disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. These skills enable me to live alone and to work at a full-time job.

My OCD motivates me to write about 125 letters a month, including enclosures of clippings, pictures or jokes each person might like. Visitors comment: "Your living room looks like an office; do you do anything besides work?" I have two desks and three filing cabinets plus two bookcases and a storage cabinet, in addition to my couch and chairs. Every weekend I arise extra early in order to write for several hours. I try to do one job at time, but often fail.

My correspondence is organized into a list of names and the dates when I wrote them and a dated list of topics about which to write. Without this system I would forget everything I wrote to family and friends. I truly enjoy, in an obsessive style, making out my annual tax forms and completing survey and insurance forms. I enjoy filing and checking my bank statements. I am eager to go to work and code data on the computer, file and type. I believe my OCD was instrumental in my choice of majoring in mathematics in college. My lifelong talents in music contribute to my passionate love of playing the piano. With OCD, I am drawn to planning programs of seasonal and well-balanced songs with my music group and I perform twice a month at all the local nursing homes.

In social occasions, I am fun at parties because my OCD inspires jokes and plays on words. However, if people visit my apartment I am obsessed with worry if someone moves even one drinking glass from its "accustomed" place. I can hardly wait to put it back after the party is over.

Now that I suffer from Diabetes II, I am working hard to keep it under control. So far, I have achieved weight loss and normal average glucose readings. It was a real eye-opener when my doctor said, "the most successful diabetics I see all have OCD. Such a mind set is essential to glucose control. The OCD patients easily keep detailed records of their blood sugar readings, their diet choices, and their schedules for exercises and rest." In a way, OCD is a positive fact in my ongoing independent lifestyle.