OCD: The Game

I was first diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder when I was thirteen, and that was also the day I learned it ran heavily in both of my families.  

    Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD as most prefer to call it, is a mental illness described by various symptoms, the most commonly known being repetitive movements and behaviors. 

My personal affliction involves more internal compulsions and easily provoked thoughts and states of mind, but OCD affects all differently, and that leads to a murky understanding for the general public, even if they want to learn. My goal in making OCD: The Game is to help spread some awareness of this affliction and educate those who have yet to really learn what OCD can be like. Most people just see it as constantly dusting the house, but there are reasons for those actions, commonly called “harm avoidance”. Harm avoidance refers to the patient succumbing to their compulsions out of a sense that something bad will happen if they do not. For example, this could be cleaning, but it could be anything, even tapping on a desk a certain number of times or blinking. But OCD is still being thoroughly explored, with the harm avoidance narrative now being joined by the simple feeling that something is wrong or incorrect, and the compulsion corrects this feeling. 

OCD can begin at a very young age and can include obsessions with possible scenarios, such as the feeling that the patient may one day become a bad person or gain traits they find undesirable, called transformation obsession. Other symptoms include body dysmorphia and feeling like one’s responsibilities/actions are more dire and impactful than they really are.

I created the game both from a few personal experiences, but also from a breadth of information gathered by research, both primary and secondary. Resources ranging from academic journals instructing elementary school counselors on signs a young student is developing OCD, to me asking my family members about their OCD experiences all aided in the scenarios depicted within OCD: The Game.

At the end of the day, my OCD is fused with who I am inherently, because it affects my life completely and encompassingly. I hope my game brings about empathy and understanding from those who are lucky enough not to have it.