Hi, I’m Phil, based in the UK and one of the moderators here. I wanted to share a snapshot of my OCD recovery journey to hopefully give some insight into how working with Rob was a game changer for me.

For over 30 years I thought I was simply a “worrier.” This began at maybe 5 or 6 years old where I was worried about doors not being locked at night, fire hazards around the home and all sorts of other concerns. As I grew up and my world expanded, so did these worries and I got to a point in my early 30s where they really started to take over and have a serious impact on my mental health. I experienced many so called ‘themes’ including illness, death and relationship OCD. I also spent a lot of time dealing with areas that didn’t stop me in my tracks but still had a detrimental effect on my life – worrying about work, was I going in the right direction, was this the right thing to do, did I handle that social situation correctly etc. Like a lot of people with OCD, I didn’t know anything about it, I was just a worrier, and I was really bloody good at it!

I consider myself a fairly ‘normal’ guy in terms of having a solid circle of family and friends, I’ve always worked hard, no problems at school, I love playing sport, I love the night out after sport even more. And looking back all of that remains true and I’m very grateful for the life I’ve had so far. But what people didn’t know and what I didn’t even realise myself was that I was living my life with an ongoing internal battle. I was giving myself a very hard time on a regular and sometimes continual basis. But I could still function and I could still live my life – and this is the dangerous part of OCD! I could have a successful time at work or have a brilliant night out with my friends but behind closed doors when I had time to myself I would be overthinking, catastrophising, worrying and beating myself up. This went on for over 30 years and I didn’t even realise I was doing it.

My Dad became ill with a very rare neurodegenerative disease when I was 5 years old, and sadly passed away when I was 15. As I grew up I became obsessed with the idea that I was going to suffer the same fate and I was petrified. I’d had reassurance from my Dad’s consultant that it was not a genetic disorder and I had nothing to worry about but of course, that reassurance didn’t work. It was like the end of the world and I was mentally in a really dark place. My family couldn’t reason with me, my friends didn’t know and surprise, surprise! The hours of googling didn’t help much either! It was not a good time in my life to say the least, a breaking point.

Fast forward a couple of years, I’d spent time and money with other therapists and I wasn’t seeing much of a change. I stumbled onto Rob’s OCD Recovery Instagram page and immediately everything fell into place. I had OCD. It was an immediate realisation that after all this time, I wasn’t just a “worrier” I actually had something called OCD and there were countless examples of people in the same boat, and I could relate to all of them! His page was like reading the contents of my own thoughts. I made contact with Rob and the rest is history – I spent time with Rob on a 1-1 basis, got involved in the group Skype calls, the WhatsApp groups and I spent a lot of time reading, educating myself, doing exposures and practicing all of the things I’d learnt through Rob’s guidance. It took hard work, commitment, stepping into the unknown and a lot of trust in Rob, and it has absolutely changed my life.

Whether you call it OCD, worrying, anxiety, stress, it really doesn’t matter. I’ve spent enough time in this community to know that people suffer all over the world with this problem and whatever you want to call it, it’s a mental health problem and it causes people huge distress. It goes undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, untreated, mistreated – yet it’s a very common problem. It can cause people minimal distress but it can also very often cause huge distress to the point that people feel the only way out is to sadly take their own lives. And the most dangerous thing is that it can be kept hidden (consciously or subconsciously) and locked away so even your closest family and friends can’t see it. This isn’t right and it doesn’t have to be this way which is why I’m a moderator in this group and why I’m passionate about doing whatever I can to help Rob bring this disorder out of the dark. Whether you have debilitating OCD or you simply find yourself worrying about things too much, you can change it all by shifting your perspectives. It sounds simple, it is simple, but it does take work and it takes commitment to doing the ‘right’ things. OCD Recovery is all about support and guidance through this journey, and like me, you can make vast improvements by receiving the right guidance and taking the right steps.