Tobias from Oxlosund lives with obsessive thoughts: “There is a misconception about OCD”

The fear of being a bad person and making mistakes made him replay daily events in his head – which in turn became compulsive.

“It's a job that's constantly in your head, along with everything else you have to deal with in daily life,” he says.

An example of this is when he was young and threw a stone in the school yard. He was convinced that the rock had broken a pane of glass at the school, even though it wasn't even close.

– I felt very bad and had a big conscience for several days.

Seeking help for obsessive-compulsive disorder

In his early 20s, Tobias sought help and was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Since then he has entered into cognitive behavioral therapy in different rounds. The last time was when he was about to become a father for the first time.

– I thought that now I would be able to do this once and for all and I felt much better. I'm very happy about it, it probably wouldn't have been so easy otherwise.

Misconceptions about obsessive-compulsive disorder

According to Tobias, many people have a misconception about what the diagnosis means.

– There is a misconception about what obsessive-compulsive disorder is, as many associate it with the system. For example, if you like to arrange books on a bookshelf because they look pretty and you feel good doing so – that's as good as anything else, then you have a beautiful bookshelf.

– But if you can't get rid of the idea that there's something wrong with the arrangement of the books and you have to change it and then do it over and over again, that's OCD.

Driven by relief of discomfort

This is something that the researcher at the Karolinska Institute, Eric Anderson, agrees with.

OCD is driven by the desire to relieve the intense discomfort you feel from unpleasant thoughts and then does so through compulsive actions.

In the video above, Tobias Wallqvist tells more about living with obsessive thoughts and what he did to make him feel better.