I break my blogging silence with an open letter to Bath Junkie, the charming bath store in Saint Augustine, FL.
Dear Bath Junkie,
It really saddens me to write this letter because I really wanted to love your store. I came across your beautiful smelling shop while I was in town for the Gentlemen of the Road tour featuring Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes and Mumford and Sons. We spent the Saturday roaming around the shops. Our only requirement to enter a shop was that it had air conditioning, since it was ridiculously hot and miserable. (Can it please be cold???)
We entered your shop after we finished the most magical popsicles. I wish I could remember the company that made them so that I could share the deliciousness with all of you lovely people. I first fell in love with your shop. Such a great concept, letting people mix their own scents! And I was totally about to spend all of my my mom’s money on those awesome essential oil shower fizzies.
But then I saw this.
Really, you name your soap after a mental illness? It’s 2013. This stereotyping and downplaying of mental illness is getting ridiculous. Especially because OCD does not equal cleanliness, hand washing, order, or anything else that you were trying to portray by naming your soap OCD.
OCD is (as described wonderfully by the IOCDF):
Here is one way to think about what having OCD is like:
Imagine that your mind got stuck
on a certain thought or image…
Then this thought or image got replayed in your mind
over and
over again
no matter what you did…
You don’t want these thoughts — it feels like an avalanche…
Along with the thoughts come intense feelings of anxiety…
Anxiety is your brain’s warning system. When you feel anxious, it feels like you are in danger. Anxiety is an emotion that tells you to respond, react, protect yourself, DO SOMETHING!
On the one hand, you might recognize that the fear doesn’t make sense, doesn’t seem reasonable, yet it still feels very real, intense, and true…
Why would your brain lie?
Why would you have these feelings if they weren’t true? Feelings don’t lie… Do they?
And end quote.
I personally have OCD and have never once washed my hands more than any “normal” person. In fact, I probably do it less. I know that hand washing is a compulsion that many people suffer from, but OCD is not defined as that. I think it’s about time we all get educated.
Bath Junkie- If you’re reading this, I would love with all of my heart to come speak to you guys about why I feel so important about this. I ask you to be advocates for mental health or at the very least to be respectful to those of us with mental illness.
Thank you all for reading this. Please share if you can. Let’s stop stereotypes.
Sending you all my love,
J
ad hoc 