Kjersti Helberg didn’t know she had obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, until she was the driver responsible for a hit and run.   “It was a little bit more like a tap and go,” she said, but the action of driving off after hitting someone else’s property was enough for her to have one of the worst OCD spikes she’s ever had before she was diagnosed.   “I got back in the car, my OCD commands overpowering my morals,” she said, while attending the One Million Steps for OCD Walk last weekend in Valencia. “I started to drive home.”   The car she was driving was her husband’s work vehicle and she began to have intrusive thoughts such as: ‘This is your husband’s work vehicle. What if he loses his job because of you?’  “I did what my OCD wanted,” she said, and then found herself having more intrusive thoughts, overthinking her actions, and what would come as the consequences. She thought of herself as a bad person who would eventually go to jail.   The intrusive thoughts became so much for her that she nursed her baby “in the darkness as tears poured down my face,” she said.   Helberg began to research the average time served for a hit-and-run felony and concluded she would be going to jail for up to six months.    “Every door knock, every phone call, put me on edge. It was only a matter of time until I was arrested, until he lost his job,” she said, all of this before being diagnosed. “I only knew daily panic, fear, anxiety, and no way to find relief.”   This eventually turned to obsessing over smaller things and with time it overtook Helberg’s life.   “I made my kids apply two different brands of hand sanitizer every time we got in the car … I was terrified to send my son to school for fear he would go blind because of a solar eclipse; I was afraid to be human for fear of what others would think of my mistakes,” she said.   Kjersti Helberg is overcome with emotion as she shares her story and experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and if comforted by OCD SoCal Regional Committee member Michelle Witkin on Saturday during the OCD Awareness SCV Walk on Saturday at Bridgeport Park. Katherine Quezada/The Signal When she itched her nose after grocery shopping before applying hand sanitizer, she would hold her breath “and put sanitizer on my nostrils” Helberg said, as she was overcome with emotions.   Helberg saw three different therapists, and they all missed that she had OCD, she said. “It’s anxiety, it’s severe anxiety,” she added. When her son was diagnosed with OCD, she had the realization that she too had the disorder.   With the help of Michelle Witkin, a local psychologist who specializes in OCD, she began her road to recovery.   On Oct. 19, Helberg and Witkin, along with other OCD advocates and supporters of the cause, were at Bridgeport Park to take part in the One Million Steps for OCD Walk presented by the International OCD Foundation, a community engagement event that allows people across the country to connect, share stories, and create impact, according to its website.  This year’s walk at Bridgeport Park was hosted by OCD Awareness SCV in affiliation with OCD SoCal and IOCDF.   “OCD is incredibly misunderstood. People tend to think that people are just a little quirky. They like things organized, or they like things clean. But the truth is that obsessive-compulsive disorder is an extremely debilitating condition where people have obsessions, which are unwanted thoughts, images or urges,” said Witkin. “At least an hour a day is spent on compulsions, either in their head or outwardly where we can see it. Some people with OCD can end up unable to function in their daily life. So, it can be from minimally disruptive, meaning a minimum of an hour a day, and some people are unable to work, go to school, etcetera.”   According to the IOCDF, approximately 1 in 40 adults have OCD, which is approximately 8.2 million adults in the United States, and the disorder affects people of all races, ethnicities, genders and backgrounds.   Individuals diagnosed with OCD “take an average of 17 years to receive effective treatment,” according to a news release from OCD Awareness SCV, which aims at decreasing the time frame for receiving effective treatment.   During the community gathering, people were able to also find resources and information in relation to the disorder and connect with many people who are learning to overcome OCD, like Helberg.   “I do not own any hand sanitizer and have not bought any since last summer. I watched two eclipses this year with my kids, I drink out of every drinking fountain that I see,” she said. “I say sorry a lot less, I share stories of my failures … I take my kids to playgrounds and other places where we could get sick.”   She added: “It’s not that I don’t have anxiety, worries, or fears. My intrusive thoughts are still there every day. I’m just beginning to see that the worries and fears don’t have to be the designers of my life.”   2024 OCD Awareness SCV Walk Speaker Jeff shares his personal story with OCD last Saturday in Valencia. Katherine Quezada/The Signal The post OCD Awareness Walk SCV hosts ‘One Million Steps for OCD’   appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.