Get to know OCD

What does Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal have to do with OCD? More than you might think. The HBO series takes preparing for uncomfortable situations to ridiculous extremes, recreating entire environments, hiring actors, and rehearsing every possible outcome to make sure nothing goes wrong. But for people with OCD, that same process can play out entirely inside their heads, and no amount of pre...

Is something actually wrong with your relationship, or is OCD making you question everything? Maybe you're constantly wondering whether you've found the right person, comparing your relationship to others, or asking friends for reassurance that you're good together. The more you search for certainty, the harder it becomes to feel confident about the person you're with. In this vide...

When Austin Kang's older brother began struggling with severe OCD, the entire family's attention shifted toward helping him. Austin was still in middle school, but he decided he couldn't add to his parents' stress. He needed to be the “easy” child. That meant hiding his own problems, keeping friends at a distance, and convincing himself that whatever he was going through wasn't...

The Cornell Seven sexual assault allegations have dominated headlines, but for some people with OCD, the story is triggering an entirely different kind of fear. What if something happened in my past that I don't remember? What if I hurt someone without realizing it? What if I'm somehow guilty by association? NOCD therapist and Chief Compliance Officer Traci Ibrahim explains how high-profil...

What happens when you try exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy, do everything you're told, and still don't get better? You might be facing your fears without realizing you're also doing things that keep your OCD alive. Dr. Patrick McGrath is joined by NOCD therapist William Schultz and psychologist Brett Deacon to explore why ERP sometimes falls short. They discuss a patient...

Shanna Chappell was working in private investment research by day and volunteering as a therapist outside of work. She knew which career she wanted to pursue, but getting there wasn't exactly straightforward. In fact, her first attempt to join NOCD didn't work out. A year later, Shanna applied again. This time, she came more prepared, had more clinical experience under her belt, and got th...

Mia Mason spent most of her life worrying that she was secretly a terrible person. What if she hurt someone? What if she did something wrong? What if the thoughts she couldn't escape said something about who she really was? It wasn't until she was 23 that she finally learned those fears had a name: OCD. Art had always been her escape. So when she finally started getting the right treatment...

Rainn Wilson describes his intrusive thoughts as “a shoe in the dryer”—relentless, loud, and impossible to ignore. Howie Mandel can relate. Both entertainers live with OCD, and while their symptoms show up differently, their stories follow a similar path: from years of confusion before being diagnosed, to the relief of finally having a name for what they were experiencing, to speaking up so others...

Being particular is nothing like actually having OCD—and Rainn Wilson would know. The actor famous for playing Dwight Schrute on The Office gets real about his own experience with OCD in this episode of Get to know OCD. Rainn was diagnosed with OCD in his late 50s, during a period of intense stress. It showed up through constant rumination and reassurance-seeking, and persistent doubts about his b...

You’ve spent so long being terrified by your intrusive thoughts. Then treatment starts working, the fear fades, and OCD finds a new question to throw at you: If these thoughts don’t bother me anymore, does that mean I actually like them? Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why becoming less afraid of an intrusive thought doesn’t mean you agree with it or are more likely to act on it. It means you’re lear...

Bad OCD days are going to happen. Sometimes the thoughts feel more real, the anxiety is harder to shake, and resisting compulsions suddenly feels a lot harder than it did yesterday. The big question is how you respond when OCD catches you on one of those days. You might think it’s okay to give yourself a pass when OCD is hitting especially hard. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why givi...

You know the fear doesn’t make sense. You’ve gone over the facts, reassured yourself, and tried to reason your way out of it — but OCD still leaves you with the same question: “But what if?” When something feels that real, knowing better doesn’t always make the fear disappear. Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why OCD isn’t something you can simply think your way out of. Even when you know you’re safe,...

You finally start getting a handle on one OCD fear — and then suddenly it latches onto something completely different. The thoughts may change from contamination to driving, relationships, morality, or something else entirely, but underneath them can be the same deeper fear that OCD keeps finding new ways to target. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why identifying these “core fears” can...

Shawn Welty had worked in mental health for nearly 20 years — in schools, community mental health, trauma care, substance abuse, and more. But when he finally received specialized training in OCD and ERP, he started looking at his old work differently. Suddenly, he could recognize symptoms in former clients that he hadn’t known to look for at the time. It was a reminder that years of experience do...

Shannon Shy was a Marine Corps officer when OCD became so severe that nearly every waking minute was consumed by obsessions and compulsions. He hid what was happening for years, terrified that admitting he had a mental health problem could cost him his career, until one morning he sat in his car crying and realized he couldn’t live like this anymore. Getting help changed the course of Shannon’s li...

OCD and autism can look surprisingly similar from the outside, especially when it comes to rigid routines and repetitive behaviors. But the reason behind the behavior can be very different: someone with autism may eat the same breakfast every morning because the routine feels comfortable, while someone with OCD may feel they have to do it because something bad could happen if they don’t. In this v...

What's the difference between hoarding and OCD? Imagine two people who both refuse to throw away the same old birthday card. One keeps it because it holds a memory they’re afraid of losing. The other keeps it because OCD tells them something terrible could happen to the person who gave it to them if they throw it away. From the outside, the behavior can look almost identical. But what’s driving it...

Dr. Patrick McGrath has been treating OCD for nearly 27 years, and there are still parts of the job that never get easier. He’s watched people suffer for years without the right diagnosis, receive treatment from therapists who don’t truly specialize in OCD, and carry enormous amounts of guilt and shame over symptoms they’re afraid to tell anyone about. But there’s another side of the job that neve...

Santina Cilento works as a school psychologist, so she knew what OCD was. What she didn’t realize was that she had been living with it herself for years. The rigid rules, the need for certain numbers, the routines she thought were just personality quirks — none of it registered as OCD until the disorder shifted toward her health and became impossible to ignore. In this episode of the Get to Know O...

A memory feels a little fuzzy, and suddenly OCD wants an answer. Did that really happen? Did you miss something? Did you do something wrong without realizing it? What starts as a small doubt can turn into hours of replaying events, checking old messages or photos, asking other people what they remember, or searching for some kind of proof that finally makes you feel certain. In this educational vi...

OCD can take something as simple as honesty and turn it into a rule: if you don’t say every thought out loud, you’re hiding something. That pressure can make people feel like they have to confess intrusive thoughts, explain every detail, or keep clarifying until someone else finally gives them relief. In this educational video, Dr. Patrick McGrath explains why that urge to confess can quickly beco...

"Trust your gut” or “just stop thinking about it” — these might sound like helpful things to tell someone struggling with OCD, but they can actually make things worse. OCD already thrives on doubt, reassurance, and the urge to get rid of uncomfortable thoughts, so advice that pushes someone toward more certainty or more control can end up feeding the disorder instead. In this video, Dr. Patrick Mc...

Lynette Eklund spent decades building creatures and effects for some of Hollywood’s most recognizable movies, including Beetlejuice and Jurassic Park. Behind that career, though, was something she didn’t understand. Since childhood, Lynette had lived with rigid rules, terrifying fears around food, an intense need to avoid failure, and thoughts she knew didn’t make logical sense but could never tal...

Tandy Cyrus didn’t begin her career in mental health. She spent years working in juvenile probation, helping young people navigate difficult circumstances while slowly realizing she wanted to make a different kind of impact. But after the birth of her daughter, her own life changed. Severe postpartum OCD pushed her into treatment and gave her a firsthand understanding of how consuming the disorder...

OCD isn't just intrusive thoughts. OCD can also create unwanted experiences that go far beyond thoughts — vivid images, uncomfortable feelings, intense urges, and even physical sensations that can feel incredibly real. And when those experiences seem to go against who you are or what you value, it’s easy to start questioning what they mean about you. In this video, Dr. Patrick McGrath breaks down...