Parlty work related, but mostly not.

[Victory Sabre]

I don't know if you all have seen my thread on OCD Girl at work. Here it is, in case you haven't seen it.

http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...=Victory+Sabre

As some posters have stated "it will get worse", well, it has. I'll be honest, I'm truly concerned about it.

For starters our water bill has skyrocketed at work in the past 2 months. She's washing her hands for 2 minutes at a pop now, and she's ignored customers to finish her ritual. When I confronted her on that she denied it, even though I saw it with my own eyes, and she's pissed at me.

She does have obsessive tendencies. She was totally obsessed with movies for a while, then her obsessions turned to soccer, now it's on Korean dramas.

But today took the cake.

See, we are doing a catering event at the local Armory. It's a video game event, and we're selling a lot of things. So much so we needed a resupply. Since it was on her way home, my BP asked her if she could bring stuff. She said yes. He told her to call her when she got there and he'd tell her which door to go to.

It didn't go that way. She went home, and had her mom call him to ask which door to go to. She refused to use her cell phone in her car, period. That, apparently is her new quirk. Now I can understand not using it while driving. Some people don't feel comfortable doing it, and some places it's illegal to do so, but not here. But to not use it, while parked in your car? Her mom then drove her the 10 blocks there to bring the supplies. Oh, did I forget to mention OCD Girl is 25?

Like I said before, I am concerned about her. I'm afraid she'll totally crack at some point, and I was wondering (from any who have been there) if there was anything I can do to nudge her into getting the help she needs?

She's going on a vacation next month with my BP and his family, and I foresee a massive clusterfuck with her OCD issues. It's also affecting her life. She has no social life, and hardly any friends outside work.

And her mom, and siblings, well, I could write a book on that subject.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[42_42_42]

She needs to see a psychiatrist and a cognitive behavrioral therapist. Being in the care of professionals is the ONLY way she's going to get better.

OCD is caused by anxiety. The more stressed she is, the worse her symptoms are going to get. You can try talking to her to find out what is causing her stress and offering her casual advice in the form of "Oh, when I'm feeling like that I do xyz to relax." BUT I wouldn't expect such a chat to do much good.

[Seshat]

Talk to a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse, or other mental health professional. Ask what help is available in your area. Ask for ideas about getting her help.

Remember that mental illness has a huge stigma to it still (less than it did, but still ...) and she may not want to acknowledge it to herself.

If it gets to the point where she is a hazard to herself or to others, or to a point of neglect, social services of whatever-appropriate-name can intervene. But while she's still essentially functional, there's no way to force her to seek help.

So it's pretty much going to be patient encouragement, trying to wear down the barriers of stigma and of unwillingness to see oneself as flawed. Trying to teach her that mental illness is ILLNESS, not a flaw in one's selfhood. Essentially no different to one's worth than pancreatitis or whatever.