1st Place, Human Interest Feature
2022-23, Division 3, News Writing
By Lindsey Jacobson, Maia Hudson & Drey Applegate
Focus
Midland HS
Sometimes the hardest part of sophomore Rylee Marshall’s day is forgetting to wash their hands before eating lunch.
Marshall was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) two years ago by their therapist. OCD is a disorder characterized as unreasonable thoughts, fears, or obsessions that lead to compulsive behaviors. Since this diagnosis was later in Marshall’s life, they have been confused on how to deal with their OCD symptoms for a while.
“I could have been getting help when I was so much younger,” Marshall said. “I feel like my life was taken away from me.”
Marshall had many symptoms of OCD growing up, but didn’t realize it. Instead of playing with toys as a kid, Marshall obsessively reorganized dollhouses or spent time sorting markers by color. It was what felt natural. Rylee’s mother, Kassie Marshall, noticed their different ways of playing, but it raised no alarms.
“That’s what brought her joy when she played, organizing things,” Kassie said.
There are many branches of OCD that someone can be diagnosed with. Rylee has two branches, one being sexual OCD. This type of OCD comes with intrusive thoughts of random inappropriate imagery they don’t wish to have. Along with sexual OCD, Rylee has contamination OCD. This causes Rylee to have frequent worries about contracting various diseases and spreading germs. Their thoughts appear most often when they eat food or are in public.
“I’m specifically worried about contracting cancer, salmonella, and different things like that,” Rylee said.
Contamination OCD prohibits Rylee from eating certain foods and drinks, especially ones with an irregular texture. It leads to compulsive thoughts about checking their food before they eat. Even with some discomforts, Rylee still attempts to eat challenging foods.
“She’s always been really good about trying,” Kassie said. “Even if she knows she doesn’t like the texture.”
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder can’t be controlled and it affects Rylee’s day to day life. Some days are worse than others. One day could be completely “normal”, intrusive thoughts and urges few and far between. Other days are not so easy to handle and can lead to unhealthy coping.
“On a hard day I either have to punch myself or pull my hair to shake it out,” Rylee said.
When it’s necessary, they pull themself out of class to go find a safe space. This is often the counseling office.
“(I’ll) go to the counselors office because I need to sit or scream,” Rylee said. “(Sometimes) I cannot handle it.”
School can be difficult for Rylee, due to their compulsions piling up. To help reduce this, they will listen to music or the sound of falling rain in the halls and during tests. They will also often say their intrusive thought out loud to make the thought go away.
Rylee has struggled to show others the separation of their disorder and who they are as a person. Society’s view on OCD and other mental illnesses are often skewed, leading lots of people to be uninformed or incorrectly informed.
“I feel like a lot of people think ‘you’re fine’ or ‘shove it down’,” Rylee said.
Both Rylee and Kassie want this to change. In order to make life a little easier for Rylee and others with OCD, they want people to give them more of a chance by being open and understanding.
“We (as a society) need to change the way we are verbalizing the impact of mental illness,” Kassie said. “Instead of judging off the bat.”
NW-13. Human Interest Feature
Human interest features appeal to the emotions of the reader with inspiration, motivation, pathos or humor and often make effective use of quotes. Enter descriptive, personal experience or accomplishment, or humor in this category. These are generally shorter stories. Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity
- Emphasizes new element, fresh angle
- Colorful, lively presentation; effective form/style
- Reflects adequate research, sound interviewing techniques
- Avoids summaries of published materials
- Effective use of facts/quotes
- Interesting; appeals to the emotions
- Proper diction/grammar