Community discussion: What you wish TV and movies showed about OCD

I’d like to see more of the anxiety. Most people (including people with OCD before they’re diagnosed sometimes, AKA me) think that it’s just obsessively organizing and such. That caused me to not really think I had OCD for very very long. If the anxiety part of it was shown more, it may help more people to resonate and realize their reality better

Pure O and the mental compulsions.

I would personally love to see someone dealing with intrusive thoughts about a specific person and them slowly avoiding said person for their own protection and if we got to see this person that they were avoiding trying everything possible to get their friend to talk to them about it and then in the climax of the movie their friend breaks down sobbing, finally explaining to them and they embrace in a big hug 💜

That it isn't always an extreme issue that totally stops people from living a normal life

To have it portrayed as something other than/more than just being particular about something. Being neat and tidy isn’t all OCD is and for a lot of people, isn’t even part of it.

That it isn't a noticable quirk all the time. That sometimes it starts as a small tick and just spirals from there

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Depictions of how Existential OCD can interfere in daily life.

I would love for movies to show the anxiety that is associated with OCD and the obsession and compulsion clycle. Its not just the compulsion but also the obsessive thoughts and the anxiety.

I'd like to see more characters who are strategically honest about what it is like to force themselves to look calm while freaking out internally.

Realistic ERP. I started watching Pure and it's a decent depiction of OCD but it's disappointing that they don't discuss how to actually treat it

I would like to see more realistic depictions of ruminating and inward compulsions effect people. How taboo themed OCD especially affects people as well.

Frequency and how often you can think about your trigger with mental compulsions and rheumination.

More mental compulsions. A lot of OCD in media is shown through counting and organizing/straightening things out, or even showing someone do a compulsion a certain amount of times, but never mention or show the MENTAL compulsion or thoughts as to WHY they do the physical compulsion. I wish it showed that side more…

The mental anguish that comes with egodystonic, intrusive thoughts

i feel like some of the best movies explore hard and taboo subjects and ocd has plenty of those

I think it would be useful to see how actually PAINFUL it is. It’s usually portrayed as quirky/inconvenient (if not a pleasant characteristic, i.e. being neat and organized). It’s never portrayed as destroying lives. Which it does, every day

The fact that not all people who have OCD have compulsions you can visually see.

I wish there were more movies about OCD due to another disability. As a blind person a lot of my obsessions and compulsions happen because I can’t see the world around me like others can. I have had fears of items being misplaced. Working with my therapist has helped me a lot with those fears.

I’d like to see more overlap with eating disorders. Eating disorders are barely touched in media, and OCD can go hand-in-hand with disordered eating. Contamination OCD can really affect how someone eats and why

I would love to see true OCD shown not this just wanting to be clean or orderly and I want that not to be what people think of when they see OCD

That there are different types of OCD

The internal aspects of OCD—rumination, thought spirals, repeating phrases, etc

More portrayals of ROCD ! And maybe even just less idealised Hollywood bullsh*t about love and romance. Let’s see a rom com with someone who feels they love and don’t love someone at the same time.

Show the intrusive thoughts and how suffering it is to stop thinking about things

I wish they would show how those with ocd tend to do it in fear of harming/hurting others and not just themselves. Some stereotypes make ocd sufferers seem selfish when most of the time it is quite the opposite.

Maybe just having a character with OCD that’s just a person. Like it doesn’t have to define their entire character, it’s just part of their life.

How much it can impact relationships!

Portray OCD not as a cute quirky personality trait like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory, but as a legitimate, often terrifying, medical condition. But I suppose it would turn into a horror movie.

This is a bit of a different angle on this, but people are surprised that I hate the movie Patch Adams. I believe it incorrectly and unnecessarily aggravates harm OCD in viewers that have it. There is a patient who is constantly afraid he's going to unalive someone (that is harm OCD), and in the movie, he actually does it, which is not what happens. I can't be the only one whose anxiety spiraled out of control after seeing that movie. I am still pretty angry about the way an ignorant writer exploited and stigmatized people with that form of OCD. That's my two cents.

I wish they would do more representations of taboo themes like harm and sexual instead of just the person cleaning excessively or the magical thinking. The taboo themes definitely need more attention in films.

I wish TV showed the hardships involved.

Remove the stereotypical behaviors of orderliness, cleaning, etc. and so real world examples. In my experience the symptoms are actually things that many people see and write off as quirky. It would be great to show the spiral, how it is recognized and how it is treated.

THAT ITS NOT ALWAYS ABOUT BEING CLEAN AND PUTTING THINGS IN PLACE. IT IS MORE THAN THAT SOMETIMES. AND YES WHAT SOMEONE ELSE SAID ABOUT ITS NOT THAT ARE OCD YOU HAVE IT

How it is not a just cute or funny quirk but something that triggers your anxiety and sometimes paralyzing you from doing normal everyday things because of the intrusive thoughts doing the prejudgments for you. Also debunking those who like to use it as an excuse for anything. Maybe even someone with ADHD, OCD, and anxiety. Believe me it is not fun all the time.

A way it impacts someone's life other than the stereotypical cleaning, rechecking doors. Though I imagine it would look weird if I was watching someone expressing it the way it has looked in my life.

Postpartum ocd and how hard it is but also the hope of healing and recovery too

I'd like to see scrupulosity portrayed. Turtles All The Way Down did an excellent job at portraying contamination OCD, and I'd like to see a film doing the same thing but in a religious context.

I’ve only ever seen OCD reflected/explained semi accurately in crime shows (Criminal Minds, SVU etc.) and I think it can be really harmful that those are the only type of shows (from what I have personally watched) that people are gaining knowledge of OCD from. Especially since there’s a large portion of people with OCD whose biggest fear is accidentally harming someone.

POCD

How it can effect a marriage -

I wish that sometimes they would show the nitty-gritty parts of OCD, the parts that discourage people from glamorizing it. If you’re going to talk about something as sensitive and serious as OCD, especially if you’re blessed enough to have a platform to influence people, let’s make sure you’re doing more good than harm. Let’s actually care about the impact our words have on people living with this disorder.

How utterly terrifying it js at times and how I don’t appreciate those who use the OCD label interchangeably with the need to be organized or controlling. I heard a prof say once in class “to one degree or another we all have OCD” Wow!! Nothing like minimizing my real diagnosis, pain, struggle, and terror and reducing it a personality quirk.

I want to see more representation of taboo obsessions. I feel like they aren’t shown nearly as much and deserve more spotlight

That it impacts people in different ways for different reasons but that it’s still a hard disorder to have to carry. Just showing how exhausting it is to have ocd and the mental resilience a person needs in order to handle ocd and regular stressors of everyday life.

It's a disorder. What does everyone think the D stands for in OCD???

Honestly I would love a documentary about someone who beat OCD. Does anyone know if that exists?

How about a character like Echo (Maya Lopez) of the MCU? Check out Echo the Marvel TV series. I like the show so, so much. Can everyone please pitch it to Marvel, please?

How your life can be run by OCD if you don’t have an awareness of it. I’ve made major decisions that in retrospect were at least somewhat motivated by obsessions and compulsions. Usually I knew something was off but I didn’t have the words for it or the capacity to make another choice.

Someone could make a film kind of like Momento, but instead of the memory issue, the main character / narrator keeps having intrusive thoughts that keep interfering with the character in negative ways. I'm not sure how it could be done in a way that doesn't become annoying to the viewer though. After a few minutes most people would be saying "okay, we get it, let's move the story along!" So it would have to be well written to avoid that.

That we are not all obsessively neat and clean.

I don’t really care to be honest, this is stupid. How is this relevant to people’s recovery and helping them move on with their lives. This is a rubbish post. Come on nocd, Let’s get people better not waste their time.