Obsessive-compulsive disorder: ‘I’d go into the shower to decontaminate’

The OCD label is one we often mistakenly use to describe people we regard as perfectionists. But for those who live with the anxiety disorder, it can stalk their every waking moment

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For almost two decades, Claire* has compartmentalised her life into different worlds: “A clean world, a dirty world, a middle world, and a sub-middle world.”

Where she worked as an insurance agent was “dirty” and her home — except the bathroom, where she dumped her work clothes — was “clean”.