INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Getting an official diagnosis can help your loved one deal with the disorder and begin to treat it. Start with the person's physician, who will perform a complete physical, lab tests, and a psychological evaluation. Having obsessive thoughts or exhibiting compulsive behaviors doesn't mean you have OCD. To have this disorder, you need to be in a state of distress where the thoughts and compulsions interfere with your life. To be diagnosed with OCD, there must be a presence of obsessions or compulsions or both. The following are signs that must be met for a professional diagnosis: Obsessions include thoughts or urges that never go away. They are also unwelcome and intrude on everyday life. These obsessions can cause significant distress. Compulsions are behaviors or thoughts that an individual repeats over and over. This can include compulsions such as hand-washing or counting. The individual feels that he or she must comply with certain rigid rules that are self-imposed. These compulsions are enacted in order to reduce anxiety or in hopes of preventing something from happening. Typically the compulsions are unreasonable and ineffective at actually reducing anxiety or prevention. Obsessions and compulsions are usually performed more than one hour per day or otherwise intrude on daily functioning. OCD is a very complex condition, and it is one that often requires professional help in the form of therapy and medications. It is important to encourage your loved one to seek help for their OCD from a therapist. One method of therapy that can be very helpful in treating OCD is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). A therapist will use this method to help individuals change how the perceived risks and challenge the reality of their fears. CBT helps people with OCD examine their perceptions of potential risk which influence their obsessions, to build a more realistic perception of their fear. Additionally, CBT helps to examine the individual's interpretation of their intrusive thoughts, because it is often the amount of importance they place on these thoughts and how they interpret them that causes anxiety. CBT has been shown to be helpful to 75% of clients with OCD. One portion of cognitive behavioral therapy can help reduce ritual behavior and come up alternative behaviors when exposed to the fear's image, thought, or situation. This portion of CBT is called Exposure Response Prevention. This type of treatment gradually exposes the individual to what he fears or obsesses over while refraining from acting on compulsions. During this process, the individual learns to cope with and manage their anxiety until it eventually does not induce anxiety at all. Medications used to treat OCD include different types of antidepressants such as SSRIs, which help to increase the available amount of serotonin in the brain in order to reduce anxiety.

SUMMARY: Suggest that your loved one get a diagnosis. Encourage your loved one to see a therapist. Look into exposure and response prevention treatment. Suggest medication for your loved one.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: A digital electric meter records the amount of electricity your household is using electronically. Thus, a digital electric meter is much simpler to read than a traditional meter because it has fewer readings to decipher. Unlike traditional analog electric meters, many digital meters transmit your meter reading wirelessly to the electric company via radio frequencies. This means that you will not have a meter reader come to your house to read your meter. If you prefer to keep your traditional meter, it may be possible in some municipalities to avoid having a new "smart" meter installed. Your meter should have a digital readout that gives you one long series of numbers. The exact configuration on this readout will vary depending on the manufacturer and the readout could include . Contact your electric company to get information about your meter if you cannot figure out how to read it on your own. Your electric meter may have a few other numbers displayed, including power status for the meter and reference numbers for the electric company. Remember to only pay attention to the large central string of numbers when trying to figure out your electric usage. Digital electric meters do not reset after every reading. This means that in order to calculate the number of kilowatt hours you have used, you need to keep track of consecutive readings. Subtract the current reading from the last reading you were billed for to get the most recent kilowatt hours used.

SUMMARY: Understand the different parts of your meter. Read the numbers on your meter. Calculate the kilowatt hours you have used.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Recognize that you have a fear of bridges, and that it needs to be overcome. Once you bring the condition to mind, you can start to work on acclimatizing yourself to bridges by watching films, imagining bridge crossings and crossing small bridges. By watching a film with a bridge in it, you can begin to desensitize yourself to the image and feel of crossing over bridges. There are numerous films with crossing bridges as a sub-theme and many of these films even include the word "bridge" in their title. You can search film databases, cable or online networks for films with the word "bridge" in the title. In the 1995 Clint Eastwood film "Bridges of Madison County," a national geographic photographer is shooting a story about the covered bridges of Madison county and falls in love with a woman who lives in the area. The 1957 film "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is a British-American war film that depicts the construction of a railway bridge to transport prisoners of war. Cross a smaller sized bridge with a group of friends, a counselor, or a therapist. By starting with a small bridge, you can start developing the physical and mental stamina for larger bridges. If you have strong social support from friends and a therapist, you may be able to gradually build up your stamina for crossing bridges. If you are undergoing treatment for your condition, you should follow your therapist's recommendation on this process. It is important to maintain all of your regular school and work routines. This will give you a sense of order and balance in life.

SUMMARY: Acknowledge your condition. Watch a movie with a bridge in it. Try crossing a small bridge. Maintain your regular routine.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: If you are short, you might find standard cuts of clothing do not fit you as well as they should. Try shopping in the petite section of your favorite online or brick and mortar store. Seek out stores and brands that specialize in clothing for shorter men and women. These cuts will likely fit you better than clothing manufactured for people who are not short. Taking a friend along on a shopping excursion means you'll have an extra pair of eyes when deciding if a particular outfit or pair of shoes is a good fit for your short physique. Try asking a short friend whose style you admire to join you on your next shopping trip. High-waisted bottoms can add the illusion of height. You can opt for pants with a high waist. Or if skirts are your thing, try complementing your short figure with a high-waisted skirt. An outfit that incorporates vertical stripes can flatter a shorter figure. Horizontal stripes, on the other hand, can make a small figure appear wider than it is. Try wearing pants, dresses, or skirts with vertical lines. Sometimes shopping in the petite section is not an option. Other times you find a sport jacket or suit that is perfect for you, but whose sleeves or hems might need to be shortened. A tailor can take these new purchases and mold them to your short stature, making you look and feel fabulous.

SUMMARY:
Try the petite section. Take a friend along. Try high-waisted bottoms. Go for vertical instead of horizontal stripes. Call the tailor after a shopping session.