Musings on... Extreme OCD Camp

I'm always a bit wary when it comes to programming about things like OCD. Of course, challenging stereotypes and driving change is extremely important, but sometimes I fear these programmes do more harm than good. Such an example is 'Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners', shown Channel 4 a few months back.  The premise of the series was to take people 'obsessed with cleaning' and get them to clean a dirty house. What I found difficult about it (as did many commentators) was the fact that the whole programme was based on negative assumptions about OCD. The condition covers a variety of different mental health issues and the assumed connection with cleaning trivialises sufferers, but also does nothing to help the general public's understanding of the condition. Moreover, it parades sufferers in front of millions like a show pony. 

I guess Channel 4 were trying to show OCD as something less sombre, a sort of positive twist on a negative experience. But there are so many dangerous assumptions associated with all kinds of mental health (see BBC Three's It's a Mad World season), and I feel it is far more positive to address these, before we start poking fun at them. 

Extreme OCD Camp is, in my mind, a positive exploration of the condition from my position of someone without OCD, wanting to understand more. It is cautious and humble, with none of the jaunty tone of 'Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners'. The people who take part are teenagers or in their early 20s, their conditions completely different. Jack has a type of contamination OCD, paralysed by the thought of germs and disease. Imogen has a fear of something bad happening to her family, which she controls by tapping things around her and eating certain foods. Josh has symmetry OCD, where his life revolves around doing everything with both his right and left hand, or right and left foot. They went to Seattle, USA for an OCD therapy camp, the idea being to create and trigger exposures, and to fight their want to ritualise their anxiety away. This premise, the aim being to help the sufferers control OCD, means that the programme instantly has a serious focus and an ability to penetrate deeper into the anxiety and pain felt by sufferers, rather than poking fun at their subsequent behaviour.

I think one of the best things about television is its power to communicate different experiences across all the divides and prejudices of the world. From an non-OCD sufferer, I learnt so much about the condition - how a mental condition can become so physical, not just in their ritualising actions, but also the pain etched in their faces. I learnt how debilitating it can be - its not just an obsession with cleanliness or a hatred of germs, it is a deep seated fear of something bad happening as a result of their actions. For people already suffering, it strikes a chord. The young people out on the trip speak of their 'unique connection', something portrayed so well by the programme, and instantly hints at a wide community of sufferers, each with the ability to do something about their condition. You can help but wish them all the luck in the world, and hope that they manage to gain control of their lives. An emotional watch (as you can probably tell) and I wholeheartedly recommend it.