![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www2.baylor.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/cegelski-may16.jpg\")
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Elizabeth McIngvale<\/a> was 12 years old when her battle with obsessive-compulsive disorder<\/a> (OCD) began. At first, it was asking her mother\u00a0repeatedly if she\u00a0was okay; then, it was seeking reassurance about other normal things. Before long, she was washing her hands hundreds of times a day, and eventually she became completely homebound. Seemingly overnight, she went from being a normal pre-teen girl, preoccupied with gymnastics and school activities, to a frightened, confused young woman who struggled to function in daily life.<\/p>\n Almost 20 years later,\u00a0McIngvale — now Dr. Elizabeth McIngvale-Cegelski —\u00a0is an assistant professor in Baylor\u2019s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work<\/a>, teaching\u00a0in both Waco and Houston. Having\u00a0learned to manage and live with the disorder, she is now an advocate\u00a0for others with mental illness.<\/p>\n But the journey to education and advocacy was a long process. Cegelski’s\u00a0OCD battle started with those compulsive rituals she felt powerless to stop; equally\u00a0frightening was the notion of telling anyone what she was feeling. But as the rituals took over her daily life, her family took notice and began searching for help.<\/p>\n She was diagnosed with OCD, and doctors in her native Houston told her family that her illness was too severe to be treated.\u00a0Her parents, though, weren’t\u00a0ready to give up on their daughter, and their search led them on a quest throughout her teenage years that eventually yielded a breakthrough. (Hear Cegelski tell her story here<\/a>; you can learn\u00a0more in\u00a0this\u00a0Houston Chronicle feature<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0on the Peace of Mind website<\/a>.)<\/p>\n