Your stories

I would never describe my childhood as perfect. It was far from it. In a way, it was me, my mum and my dog against the world. Our household was abusive and therefore, I felt very alone. I was a very nervous child. I didn’t like change. I was just five years old, standing in the playground at school when OCD joined me. I remember this voice in my head telling me if I picked up leaves...

It all started when I was 11 years old. I had just started secondary school and found the transition a little more difficult than I'd imagined. I did make friends but quite soon one of them started bullying me and made me feel very low.  A short while later I began picking up small rituals that I felt compelled to do for no real reason. I was stepping on drains a certain number of times,...

I first experienced postnatal depression (PND) after the birth of my first child in 2006. I very quickly became depressed, obsessive about safety, suicidal and felt resentment for my own baby. I developed OCD, became fanatical about little rituals or routine and refused to talk to anybody about how I was feeling. Eventually, after weeks of self-harming, I sought medical help and was put on...