As a child, my son Dan never lied to me. Okay, I guess I can’t be 100% sure about that, but he was usually an upfront, truthful boy. Teachers and relatives would comment on his honesty as well, saying things like, “If we want to know what really happened, we ask Dan.”

Enter OCD. Now he’s telling us he didn’t realize there were fingerprints all over the walls, or he was too tired to go here or there, or he just wasn’t hungry. All lies (which worked) to cover up his obsessive-compulsive disorder. Even after he was diagnosed and I’d ask how he was doing, the answer was always “fine,” despite the fact that he was obviously so not fine. He lied about his feelings and about  taking his meds. My hunch is he lied to the first few doctors he saw, or at the very least, wasn’t completely honest…