Ghastly H. Crackers

depressioncomix:

depression comix #99

Vocal ticks, an all too common side effect of OCD. Some of them can be extremely fucked up and inappropriate too. Fortunately they’re usually muttered at a volume that sounds louder to us than to anyone else and trying to fight them can make them worse. I used to be very adept at spinning them into a joke if somebody actually overheard one. Now I just say “oh it’s a vocal tick” and then explain what a vocal tick is if they’re curious.

I think the biggest blessing I got from finally being diagnosed and treated was just learning how amazingly “normal” all the fucked up shit I do is for someone with my particular disorder. Once you can come to accept the symptoms of your disorder for what they are and not try to put any judgement on them (ie, I’m suffering this because I’m a horrible person) you really do come to see them in the same way as you would see a limp as it relates to a sprained ankle. The limp’s not the cause of the sprained ankle and nobody’s a horrible person because they limp when they have a sprained ankle.

I think that’s one of the ways in which your comic is very helpful to those who suffer mental illness, by normalizing their symptoms and removing judgement from them.

When you have a cold it is normal to cough, sneeze, have a runny nose. When you have [mental disorder], it is normal to [symptom],[symptom],[symptom]. That doesn’t mean the symptoms aren’t horrible in and of themselves or should be dismissed, it just means they’re a normal part of that condition.

You’re doing great work here Clay, brave work. You should be proud.