BUFFALO N.Y. — A local writer is using his personal experiences to help people and their families. Mental health is becoming more important and Williams McCullagh is drawing awareness to how to deal with a common disease called OCD.
"My whole life I've dealt with a problem of counting things and touching things and looking at things," he shared.
Mental Health Resources in Western New York:
- Child and Family Services
- Behavioral Healthcare Network
- 211 WNY
- National Alliance on Mental Illness
- Best Self Behavioral Health
- Buffalo Psychiatric Center Office of Mental Health
- Community Health Center Buffalo
- Compeer
- Core Mental Health Counseling
- Crisis Services
- Endeavor Health Services
- Evergreen Health Services
McCullagh said he was diagnosed with OCD when he was 35, yet knew something the repetition in his head was a little out of the ordinary. He's felt like he was keeping a secret for so long.
"Its something back then that wasn’t talked about much," he stated.
A support system or someone to help is not something that was common to him until now.
"When I would go to the doctor and say ‘I think too much’ and he goes ‘well don’t think so much,'" McCullagh said.
He's partnered with Psychologist with Suburban Psychiactric Adam Ashton to make his ideas come to publish pages.
"I think the book is important because it helps people understand that this is not a one off kind of thing where people don’t have to suffer with this," Ashton said. "Where they’re the only ones. People often suffer in silence when they have anxiety disorders and the sad thing is - it doesn’t have to be that way."
He defines OCD as an anxiety disorder where people irrationally worry, and it's a kind of worry that they cant help even if they know everything is ok or will work out.
According to the International OCD Foundation, for every 100 adults one has OCD and for every 200 kids one has OCD.
"I also noticed some of it in my kids," McCullagh said. "And I knew I had to do something to help her so I wrote a book about it for kids."
His book, This Mouse is a mouse is a mouse, can be found on Amazon or at the AG Gallery in Buffalo.
