Part 1: Setting the Scene

Recently, I feel like I’ve been coming apart a bit.

For a very long time now I have been struggling in a fight with a neurobiological anxiety disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). You’ve all heard of it, but most people still don’t know what it is. Lots of people think they know, but in my experience they’re less well informed than they think, with exceptions of course. In a time when we are all experiencing some kind of health related anxiety, whether that be for ourselves or for our loved ones or even strangers, I think it’s important to take a look at how this disease is affecting the mental wellbeing different communities across the globe. I am not particularly well informed about other mental illnesses, but I am in a position to comment on my own experiences with a very unique anxiety disorder, and how the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus has affected me. Hopefully, it will be comforting if, like me, you suffer from OCD yourself, but if not, I hope it’s at least informative. OCD is criminally underrepresented in media. And at that, when it is represented it’s often misrepresented. It would definitely make a lot of people’s lives easier if it was better understood. Failing that, I hope you at least find this interesting. While it’s quite a nasty disorder, it’s also incredibly fascinating and intricate. Sadly, I’m not qualified to speak to the intricacies of OCD with the accuracy and detail with which a counsellor or psychologist might portray the issue. But I can tell you a bit about my fight with OCD and how a global pandemic is essentially what I have been preparing for my whole life.

Let’s get into it.