I have a few questions to atheists, before I become one.

[Lek]

I also suffer from OCD and have had many of the same experiences. I'm right there with you. OCD is not a psychological illness, but rather a physical one. It's caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. There are drugs that can treat this imbalance and relieve the symptoms to a large degree. The antidepressant Paxil has helped me tremendously. You have such a difficult time making decisions because as long as you feel there's a 1% chance that one side or the other is true you can't disregard it. Most atheists can think that there's a chance that God exists, but are content to not believe unless they find scientific truth, but with OCD you can't rest as long as there's any chance or doubt in your mind. I was always looking for ways to appease God and avoid the fires of hell and almost had a nervous breaakdown. I finally came to the realization that my salvation was based on my faith in Christ, not in endless rituals and appeasment. I gave myself to him and put the rest in his hands. No matter what you do, you can't earn your way to heaven. I still have to deal with my OCD daily, but it's managable now. I have some peace of mind and I can sleep at night again. You can beat it. Don't give up searching for way to overcome this dehabilitating condition.

[shep]

do you know of CBT, lek?

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

Really, Lek? Of course it's a psychological illness, it's a coping mechanism for dealing with anxiety. There is a biological component, but it is located in the brain, which also doubles as the mind. Depression is also caused by a chemical imbalance, but you don't hear me claiming it is a "physical illness." That's just absurd.

[Whateverist]

He thinks his OCD is grounded in his god belief and that if he manages to dump the god beliefs his OCD will go away, too.

Strange, but in a way, praying might actually provide some cover for OCD rituals. You're not nuts, you're just pious.

[Mudhammam]

I think that I may have not explained correctly - not that my OCD affects my ability to research and work through such issues, it's that I am sure that it is created by the question-"Does God exist?" and the inability to answer it. That's why I am washing my hands all the time, that's why I am making all the other rituals which are considered symptoms of OCD - because I don't know if God exists, so I do them simply because I don't want to risk. That's why I believe that the OCD will be gone when I manage to answer my question.
Sorry, will edit the post in a sec, thanks for pointing that out!

Of course you have the ability to answer it. Your difficulty in convincing yourself that it's true based on reasoning and evidence should be a big hint about what the answer is.

[Cato]

Holy fuck! IntelligentPlanet, you are full of shit...

1. English is your native language or you have been fluent for some time. Your grammer is near flawless and you used the word (I cringe) "ain't" properly in the sentence where you attempt to convince us that you 'no so good speak the english'.

2. You have absolutely no clue what OCD is despite the fact you throw OCD around more than a clothes drier tosses lint. If you are OCD, you have yet to describe the behavior that made a doctor diagnose you as OCD.

3. The sing-songy Good Ship Lollipop cadence in your typed speech is vomit inducing. In my experience, the only people that actually do this in the spoken voice with your level of tenacity are Mormons.

[Alex K]

Holy fuck! IntelligentPlanet, you are full of shit...

1. English is your native language or you have been fluent for some time. Your grammer is near flawless and you used the word (I cringe) "ain't" properly in the sentence where you attempt to convince us that you 'no so good speak the english'.

Hell I ain't no native speaker either, but that don't stop me from not making excuses when I've said something stupid. You heard me!

3. The sing-songy Good Ship Lollipop cadence in your typed speech is vomit inducing.

Lol, the what in the what Lollipop what cadence? What is it and where can I buy some?

In my experience, the only people that actually do this in the spoken voice with your level of tenacity are Mormons.

[Lek]

do you know of CBT, lek?

I don't recognize it by the initials. I assume it's a related condition.

---

Really, Lek? Of course it's a psychological illness, it's a coping mechanism for dealing with anxiety. There is a biological component, but it is located in the brain, which also doubles as the mind. Depression is also caused by a chemical imbalance, but you don't hear me claiming it is a "physical illness." That's just absurd.

I'll grant you that there are psychological symptoms, but the root cause is related to chemical imbalances - and I view depression in the same way. Strangely enough, the same medications are used to treat both conditions. In my experience with myself and others I know, I believe it works best to treat the physical problem first, then to use therapy to learn to deal with or dismiss the related compulsions. I did view a piece concerning a doctor who took images of the brains of people with OCD and, as they went through therapy and learned to cope, the brain images became more like the images of people without the condition. I've never seen any more about that though.

[IntelligentPlanet]

Deidre32, thanks a lot for the inspirational words! Hopefully I will be able to make the choice someday.
Lek, you are absolutely right about everything you said. I am in the exact same state as you described. I feel much better when I see that everything is due to my psychological disorder.
Cato-I have been learning English for 10 years, I think since 2nd grade. I have also read tons of books in English, so I have some basic understanding of English grammar. Problem is, that I might have done some mistakes in the text I wrote, so that's why I decided to warn you that English wasn't my mother language simply because I wanted to avoid some hateful replies with people criticizing my grammar. As for "ain't" I've been using this word in lots of online games I've played. I didn't understand your last statement though. Could you try to explain it?

And again, thank you all for the responses, it really, really, really helps me guys! Thanks for the support!

[Alex K]

@IntelligentPlanet,

It means you read too much stephenie meyer