My younger sister, Katie, developed OCD last March, our mother had a mastectomy and five days later England went into a national lockdown. The combination of these events created a perfect storm. Katie was deeply fearful that she would pass on the virus to our mother and make her fatally ill, whilst she was isolating in her student halls in preparation for coming home, her OCD began.
Before last March I had no experience with OCD, neither did Katie, she told me, ‘a while ago I knew someone with OCD and I thought they quite liked having it, because I thought it was their choice and something to satisfy their needs, I couldn't have been more wrong.’ OCD is not anything like we could have imagined, so often it is misrepresented in the media and trivialised, seen as just a mechanical act.
Watching my sister experience OCD made me aware of how narrow our understanding of OCD is, and how lazy visual tropes feed this ignorance. What struck me the most about Katie’s experience is how emotional it is, and how these emotions are not linear, or operate in binaries like you may imagine. OCD is unrelenting and nuanced.
Born out of love, fear and a desire to protect, Katie’s OCD has always been intensely emotional, and continues to be. The aim of the work is to make people aware of the hidden battle that OCD sufferers continuously experience, and to challenge common preconceptions. Those suffering with their mental health is at a record high due to the coronavirus pandemic and it is vital conversations continue to be had.
