I suffered in private for years with OCD and didn't know it. I honestly thought I was just slowly going crazy/was a terrible person with repetitive, disturbing thoughts. On the surface, I'm a professional, married, great family life, etc. but kept my suffering VERY private.

After finally getting fed up/building up the nerve to talk to my doctor about what was going on in my head, she clarified what OCD was doing (intrusive thoughts -> anxiety -> mental compulsions to make the anxiety go away -> intrusive thoughts get worse, more compulsions "required" to make it go away) and gave me a diagnosis of such, as well as some treatment recommendations.

I just recently wrote about dealing with OCD and posted it to social media, announcing it publicly. There was an outpouring of support, and even more satisfying, a few private messages of people discussing their own, very private battles with mental illness.

It's a huge, private struggle for most, and I think we'd all be better off if we talked more openly about it.