People with OCD are sharing their innermost thoughts online
LONDON -- People with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are sharing their experiences of living with the condition in a new creative arts project.
"The Wall" is documenting the thoughts, secrets, worries and hopes of people living with OCD on an online wall composed of confessions posted by contributors from all over the world.
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The NHS defines OCD as a mental health condition which causes a person to have obsessive thoughts and compulsive activity. According to OCD UK, approximately 741,504 people in the UK are living with OCD at any one time.
The Wall is the brainchild of filmmakers Liz Smith and Becca Laidler, who set up the project in an effort to raise awareness of the reality of the condition.
"We wanted to create a platform where people living with OCD could see they were not alone and people who think OCD is just washing hands can see the true reality and various forms of this debilitating illness," Laidler told Mashable.
The project was inspired by Laidler's own experience of growing up with her mum who lived with OCD.
"A big driving force for me is that my mum wasn't diagnosed with OCD until much later in life," Laidler told Mashable.
"Knowing what she and I know now, her life would have been much easier with an early diagnosis."
"We have spoken to people all over the world who thought they were the only ones struggling with these intrusive thoughts," says Laidler.
For co-founder Smith, the project is also about underling the seriousness of the condition.
"It's important because OCD has been trivialised and is mostly used as a casual adjective to describe being clean and tidy when the reality is it is one of the top ten most debilitating mental illnesses according to WHO," Smith told Mashable.
"And, as The Wall so effectively shows, it has nothing to do with being tidy, it manifests itself in many different, deeper, darker ways."
"There are lots of people out there who are suffering from OCD, but are too embarrassed or ashamed to talk about it, and there are others who, often undiagnosed, find great relief when they realise they're not alone," Smith continued.
"OMG, I’m *so* OCD," reads one of the posts on The Wall, written by Laura, from Washington, D.C.
"People say this time and time again, but do they truly know what it’s like to suffer from such a debilitating mental illness?" continues Laura.
"'Just in case.' This is a word I use multiple times each day, and is usually how I explain my compulsions," reads another post by Amy, from West Midlands, UK.
"It’s a simple phrase but, when I use it, I’m hiding a multitude of experiences that have contributed to my development of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," she continues.
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Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
