Matthew Wright

“My OCD won’t allow that.” “I’m so OCD about these things.”We’ve all heard it before. The throw away line when someone likes something neat or ordered. They blame it on OCD. Like OCD is an easy get out of jail free card for wanting things their way. But what is it actually like to live with OCD. To have your every day governed by an invisible force that makes you question your morality, your sanity and even your identity? What is it like to be fearful that one wrong move, as innocent as it...

The water started boiling. For almost a year I had avoided cooking Archie’s raw chicken. A task Jord had quietly taken over because she could see what it was costing me mentally every night - to sit and fear that somehow I was going to give my daughter salmonella poisoning. That somehow, some microscopic, trace amount that splashed out was going to somehow make its way into her mouth or onto her food either from the kitchen bench, or by her plate touching the same spot and then her putting...

OCD was not me being careful. It was fear disguised as responsibility. It made me feel responsible for things no human being could ever fully control. In my darkest hours, it made love feel like a relentless pursuit of keeping those I love safe. OCD didn’t roar into my life like a tidal wave looking to sweep up everything in its path. It entered quietly, in the dark of night and it attacked something I took for granted. Something that gave me freedom. Something I valued. On an ordinary...