OCD

When doubt keeps demanding an answer.

OCD can look completely different from one person to the next, even in the same family. One person might clean or check repeatedly. Another might feel they have to step around certain tiles, repeat an action until it feels right, or replay a conversation in their head.

The pressure underneath can feel like a frightening “what if?”, a need for certainty, or a feeling that something is unfinished. Checking, repeating or asking for reassurance may bring a moment of relief before the urge returns.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves recurring intrusive thoughts, repetitive behaviours or mental rituals, or a combination. The impact varies. For some people, symptoms take up hours or interfere with getting out the door, eating, working or being present with the people they love.

Around one in 28 Australians aged 16 to 85 live with OCD in any year. Many suffer in silence for years, frightened of what their thoughts might mean, or worried no one will understand.