02/12/2025
For many of us, Christmas is a season of lights and tradition.
For people with OCD, it can also be a season of more fear, more obsessions, more guilt…shame.
This Christmas, I created something close to my heart in collaboration with - a limited edition charity bundle designed to raise funds for their vital work supporting people affected by OCD.
Inside the bundle:
🎄 1 charity tote (two designs: Ride the Wave & Embrace Uncertainty)
🎄 8 Christmas cards (4 festive patterns)
All proceeds go directly to OCD Action because of the generosity of who have printed everything!
If you’re able to support, share, or simply hold this in mind this Christmas, thank you.
The link to the bundle is in my bio. 💙
21/10/2025
The stereotypes 🧹🫧the misuse 🙀, the misconceptions 🗣️ all contributed to my delayed diagnosis. I now know I had my first symptoms aged 5 but I wouldn’t be diagnosed until 24 years later. It took a further 5 years to get to effective treatment. ⏰📆
🤡 It might seem like a joke to say ‘I’m so OCD too’ but those jokes carry weight and can prevent people from recognising the symptoms of OCD and getting to the right help.
➡️ Some people with OCD do clean and order things, but they don’t do it for fun. They do it compulsively, to try to get relief 💧from distressing ⚡️intrusive thoughts e.g. thoughts of harm coming to people. Intrusive thoughts don’t have to be about germs, they can be about anything at all! They usually target something that you value. Common themes include harm 🔪, contamination 🧫, relationship 💕, somatic 👀, taboo 🤬….the list is pretty long!!
Intrusive thoughts 💭 are distressing ⚡️to a person with OCD. They are not easily dismissed. People with OCD perform compulsions ✳️ in order to relieve 💧the distress caused by the meaning they attach to their thoughts. Compulsions don’t have to be things like checking ✅, cleaning 🧽 and ordering 📚…. They also include avoidance, reassurance seeking, self-punishment, mental rituals, mental acts, rumination and other visible acts.
OCD is treatable with ERP therapy 👂and SSRI medication 💊 but we can’t treat it, if we don’t recognise it!
If you think this would be useful for somebody you know, please pass it on.
👜You can also spread this message into the real world by carrying a charity tote bag or sticker. Available in the official online shop (see the 🔗 in my 📝).
This bundle has been designed by me and printed at no cost by meaning every penny goes to . 💙
