Phobias

Recently I someone asked, “What is OCD?”. I have to admit I’m just so used to referring to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as OCD that I forget that some people don’t know what the term means.
Simply put OCD is:
An anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions. ~Wikipedia

For example, if you are consumed with germs and cleanliness, and to reduce your anxiety you wash your hands repetitively. It may have to be a certain number of times or after you touch a certain item.
The hard thing about OCD is you realize how irrational your fear is and yet you don’t feel like you can stop – it causes that much anxiety.
Now OCD can be about almost anything. Did you turn off the oven, shut the front door, hit the child you drove past 3 blocks ago? The list can be endless. In fact to try to sum it up in one article would probably be impossible.Especially since my main struggle has been cleanliness. If you’ve struggled from OCD and have something to add please leave a comment.
If you want to know more here are some articles (if you have some to add feel free to leave a link below):

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder on Wikipedia 
The International OCD Foundation
About.com What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

I have a confession to make… I’m a germaphobe. Yup, that’s right, I freak at the thought of germs. By the way, they’re everywhere if you didn’t know. But I’m happy to report that after being on the GAPS™ diet for about 9 months now, it’s actually going away!
This article isn’t about my problems so much as it is a way to help your local germaphobe through this world. Trust me, you may not see germs everywhere but to the germaphobe the littlest things drive them batty. So since I am now half germaphobe, half normal person, I thought I would share some thoughts on this to help you to understand the interesting way our mind works. If you’re a germaphobe reading this I mean this to be silly and hope you will laugh with me.

 
Germs. What are they?
I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes with this first question because it seems like such a simple answer. If you said that, you are not  germaphobe – congratulations! Yes, scientist and doctors tell us that germs are little bacteria guys that live in our gut, existing on doorknobs, and even up our nose, but if you’re like me there’s a whole scary world that the PhD’s miss.
Germs are icky, gross things that we don’t want to touch at ALL.
Okay, I’ve officially gone juvenile on you guys, but keep in mind the very essence of a phobia is irrationality. That’s why phobia’s consist of very broad, general ideas and things that …