OCD representation that gets it right

I remember watching that episode of Scrubs. It made me emotional. My OCD isn't contamination OCD, but watching him get so frustrated and angry with himself, and yet feel so helpless to STOP, really resonated with me.

Yes, Olivia Rodrigo! “what’s wrong with me” portrays mental and physical compulsions very well. One of my favorite relatable artists.

Camden by Gracie Abrams. That song GET’S it. I’ve had harm OCD and that song reads my mind in a way a can’t even explain Also, difficult and Hard to sleep (by her)

Don’t forget the movie “Pure O” (2023), it made so much sense for me

Rose Cartwright's book "Pure" (2015) does a very good job of showing what it's like to live with constant intrusive sexual thoughts. The 2019 BBC series (I think you can get it for free on Tubi right now, also called "Pure") is worth watching and adds in some comedy without making light of the subject.

Great examples. A brilliant drama on UK TV earlier this year was Waiting for the out’. Excellent portrayal of OCD.

I wish to watch but I don't dare to.

I would add songs by NF, including “Fear,” “The Search,” and I imagine him singing about his relationship with OCD in “Running.” A great book that portrays OCD really well is “Rewind, Replay, Repeat,” which is a memoir of someone with OCD by Jeff Bell.

I heard this song last year and I couldn’t believe how understood I finally felt. It’s called Tiny Dictator by Sophie May, I highly recommend it never seen it represented like that before in music 🥲

Ooh also Chicago Med’s most recent episode (S12E4) showed an insanely accurate contamination spiral (at least for me). I felt so validated

I am almost 75 and have struggled with harm obsessions since I was about 6 years old. At 44, I couldn’t live with it anymore; I thought I was the only person in the world who struggled with intrusive thoughts. Imagine my surprise when the psychiatrist knew exactly what I had and told me nobody ever acts on their obsessions.

I left his office so happy that there was a name for this, which meant other people had it! I still suffered with it. And I still do from time to time. I’ve learned to not over-react to it, to just let it ride and I have always prayed. It’s not nearly as often or as delibating as it once was. Don’t give up, I pray you don’t.

And be sure to ask God for His help. He will help you.

I literally just watched “Split” for the first time which is mostly about DID but it has some OCD-related stuff as well and while it can be a lot more than how it is shown in the movie (and is for me), it still really resonated.

The machinest with Christian Bale comes to mind. The main character struggles with a number of different physiological issues and compulsive washing and checking are definitely among those issues. It's more of a physiological horror/crime movie though, so it's not explicitly about ocd, it just uses mental illness as a major plot point. And I guess content warning as well, it's a pretty easy movie to get triggered by.