About Dealing with Disorder.
Sam Parkman
Creator of Dealing with Disorder and person with Tourette, OCD and (too) many of the co-occurring conditions.
Dealing with Disorder was created out of pure frustration.
The first articles were published during lockdown. A time when my symptoms felt all the more apparent, and many of us realised how fragile our health is. Physically and mentally.
I was diagnosed with Tourette, OCD and ADHD at the age of nine, with little information after that.
My family struggled to find valuable support online. I was placed on medication but nowhere could we find information to help deal with the struggles and co-occurring conditions.
So many of us with neurological disorders find ourselves playing catch-up with society, or not fitting in at all.
This isn’t because we are doing things ‘wrong’. Society just isn’t set up to help us understand ourselves and reach our full potential.
Dancing to our own beat is so difficult, but so important.
My overall aim for this website is to help improve the quality of life for myself and others in a similar position.
This will be achieved by:
- Providing up-to-date, accurate information on Tourette and OCD through lived experience and insights from professionals
- Tackling myths, misrepresentations, bullying and discrimination in any form
- Working with individuals and groups in the community to help increase awareness and support
Talking to sufferers with lived experience, as well as professionals, is vital to achieve these aims.
lived experience is different for everyone. it's finding the right questions more than giving a generic answer.
Tourette and OCD symptoms vary. A lot.
The belief that Tourette is a ‘swearing disease‘, and that OCD is a ‘cleaning disease‘ are outdated and incorrect.
Granted, some people swear, some people clean. But there’s so much more to these conditions.
Articles on the endless ways TS and OCD manifest will help people gain a better understanding, and get the relevant diagnosis sooner.
roughly 1.2% of the population has ocd, and around 1% has tourette.
The statistics will likely change over time.
In fact, these numbers have been changing. The more a society has access to information and treatment, the more people are being diagnosed with these conditions.
Thanks to the internet, this number is likely to increase further.
thank you for helping dealing with disorder grow.
I run this website in my spare time, with a dream of doing so on a full-time basis.
So far, my articles have been read in over 158 countries, with a growing audience month by month. For this I am extremely grateful.
Every view, every click and every subscription helps to keep things moving, with many exciting plans in store. From vlogs to interviews, to collaborations with organisations, charities and allies. This is- and will remain- the place to be for those dealing with disorder.
Thank you for helping to make this happen.
Author FAQ's
Most frequent questions and answers
I was diagnosed in a small town in Country Durham, north-east England. I was 9 years old in 1999.
My parents noticed some obsessional and tic-like behaviours when I was a child, my primary school’s psychologist took me out of class to assess me, and noticed these tics also.
I would then go on to see different specialists between 1999-2001- my family GP, a paediatrician, neurologist and therapists that spoke between themselves before coming to a diagnosis.
More assessments were carried out in the neighbouring cities of Durham and Newcastle.
Basically, I was placed on medication for Tourette and OCD, however I won’t specify what as different medications work for different people. I was placed on one form of medication that made my tics ten-times worse, before trying another that seemed to work.
I did get to attend some therapy sessions, these fizzled out as my tics began to subside in my late teens. I remained on medications throughout secondary (high) school.
I was fortunate that my tics were much worse in primary school than secondary, as those teen years can really be a struggle in general, even more so with a neurological disorder.
ADHD was present, and made concentration very difficult. I did get in trouble on numerous occasions for zoning out or being a distraction, but nothing serious. My average grade was a C/D, not very good, but not terrible either.
Bullying was a big problem as I was entering my teens, however I am not sure how much of that was down to my condition. I had great friends growing up, many of them I am still good friends with, and this helped massively.
I’d say that my conditioned worsened in my mid to late twenties.
This could be for a number of reasons. I was no longer on medication, adult life was becoming very stressful and with that, using alcohol to self medicate. My dad also died when I was 24, and this had a big impact on my mental health.
Looking back, I feel that ADHD and OCD were always there, it was my tics that reduced the most. It seemed harder for me to realise when ADHD and OCD were taking over, because they moulded themselves around my daily life and were harder to catch without therapy.
Now in my thirties, my symptoms feel as bad as they were when I was a child, tics and everything else but therapy sessions have helped me understand the processes and learn how to deal with these better.
Probably not. But this isn’t necessarily bad news for me.
I am putting much more effort into healthier eating, exercising and knowing what triggers my tics, thoughts and focus.
Writing has become a great therapy for me also. It seems that so many of us can find relief when doing something we enjoy, and this is something I want to help others with. Finding that passion that helps reduce symptoms.
The more we talk about our struggles, the less weight we will have on our shoulders. I hope we can all help to reduce the stigma together.