Obsessive-compulsive disorder, or “OCD,” is a paradigm that is much more than simply insisting on having books on a bookshelf in a straight line.

It is a passion fueled by a habitual, compulsive behavior that the disabled party cannot halt until a problem is solved, or a desired sum is achieved.

The disabled party’s stress-producing anxiety will not subside until the compulsion solves a problem believed to exist or produces a desired sum.

The stigma surrounding mental health will never improve in the hands of politicians who deploy it as a political catchphrase while speaking with their constituents. The stigma surrounding mental health and our society’s criminalization of it will only improve when those that suffer from it have the courage to walk into the light and show others they are no different from everyone else.

The question is always asked: why did America’s mental health hospitals diminish during the twentieth century? It is possible that the politicians that preach mental health awareness realized they could convert an expense into revenue.

13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America

Section 23 of Article 1 of the Constitution of the State of Iowa