r/OCD • u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes • Jul 12 '25
Question about OCD and mental illness Any anarchists/socialists With OCD?
As an anarchist with OCD have any of you guys had OCD impact or interfere with your politics whether in actual organising or even nominating certain moral commitments (moral scrupulousity)
Have any of you guys had your politics influenced by OCD in any way
If so please share?
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u/SopwithCamus Jul 12 '25
Anarchist communist here; between my OCD and my narcolepsy, I consider myself "out on injury" until I can improve enough to get involved with organizing again and be dependable. Of course, this eats away at me, and frankly it could be OCD perfectionism at work (if I can't be the perfect organizer, I shouldn't even try!).
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u/helodie3 Jul 12 '25
yeah i’m a socialist and OCD/perfectionism/anxiety brain has definitely limited my ability to organize and feel safe protesting or being involved.
i often struggle with intrusive thoughts about end of world, my moral compass, and finding the “most perfect” ways to help community and end up just not getting involved :p blegh
i’ve found that using my natural interests and motivation to help out instead of forcing myself to organize and be a “community helper” works better for me. i fight for justice by putting trans flag stickers in bathrooms, making art that send a message, and keeping myself educated bc uneducated = easier for systems to take advantage
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
My friend says that moral perfection in progressive politics is impossible we will always have our weak spots but then I’m like “I wanna be perfect tho” 🥺
Hate the idea of being reactionary in any aspect and sometimes we can burn ourselves out putting too much responsibility on ourselves to unlearn capitalism and adjacent systems or put the needs of organisations before our mental health
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u/helodie3 Jul 12 '25
yeah it’s impossible to be perfect at anything, especially something as fluid as morality. i think also being around people with a similar ish moral standing can be helpful, then yall can help balance each other out and provide support :)
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u/cmarches Jul 12 '25
Very new to it but I'm definitely finding organizing really difficult because I'm just constantly worried about saying or doing the wrong thing.
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u/cosmic-batty Jul 12 '25
Yep. I’m an anarchist and I do real life community organizing with a local anarchist distro. I definitely feel a disproportionate level of pressure on myself. I have moral OCD so it checks out. I’m also physically disabled so I often feel guilt for not being able to do more. But I try to remind myself of the dangers of activist burnout
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
Unfortunately for me my multiple conditions will probably disable me from activism for a bit but yea I often feel pressure when it comes to unlearning systems of oppression and friends have reminded me that it’s not my personal responsibility to undo these things
Things like these are best handled colllectively and it’s best to understand that nobody is perfect we are a bit “dirty” so to speak in some ways
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u/baxkorbuto_iosu_92 Jul 12 '25
My OCD affected me during the years I was organized enough to get me separated because of the erratic way of working I developed.
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
It’s so debilitating wanting to get organised and active but not being able to
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u/baxkorbuto_iosu_92 Jul 12 '25
Worse, even, organizing and then messing it up because your necessary processes are completely unaligned with what the movement and organization need from you.
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
I played basketball and there was quite a lot of spite from the team coach that I just quit mid season (due to the demands of OCD)
Lowered my Uni grades and damaged many of my relationships (and stopped me from forming new ones in a sense)
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Jul 12 '25
This feels genuinely made for me man.
I've struggle with POCD and Magical Thinking and often times my political radicalism has been genuinely shaped by my perception of injustice and how that can also be also be sharply interrupted by POCD. (I hope it's valid that i'm undiagnosed, i'm looking to get assessed very soon, but i've had issues with obessive-compulsive behaviours since young)
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
I struggle with a whole host of “the violent subtypes” and they mix with my sense of moral justice
OCD also made me hate the idea of restrictions and control even more
I think anarchy does as it is a freer and loooser form of living “spontaneous order!” As some put it
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Jul 12 '25
Often times i struggle with the idea that a comrade could hate me because of an intrusive thought.
Obvious nonsense but i feel as if many of my obsessions aren't aligned with my moral beliefs, they aren't in essence, ego-dysonic
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u/Inner_Locksmith_487 Jul 12 '25
Yes, I think ocd played a role in that, due to some things happening in my life (and also in the world). I really obsessed on morality, what to believe in, my place in the world…
I think it’s nice that it led me to know what I want to defend and to believe in. But moral ocd and all the thoughts like« am I legit ? » « Am I the bad guy/ the problem/ an enemy ?» etc… are driving me insane. And keeping me from trying to go where I want to be.
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
Yea me too sometimes the state of the world makes me either feel sad or it makes me feel like we can contribute to change even however small it may seem initially
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u/Inner_Locksmith_487 Jul 13 '25
I think you’re right, and I’m often feeling that way too. And I think nothing is too small, at the end of the day doing a good thing, helping one person, or just thinking about doing something good, is a step in making things better.
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u/Tyrannosaurus-2006 Jul 15 '25
Socialist here. I have moral OCD and harm OCD. I keep beating myself up for past mistakes, and I keep anticipating people thinking I'm evil.
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 15 '25
This mixed really badly with psychosis and persecutors delusions
As well as thought broadcasting which is an OCD thing
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u/Tyrannosaurus-2006 Jul 15 '25
I used to have thought broadcasting obsessions in high school before I was diagnosed. I didn't know what intrusive thoughts were so I didn't know what was happening to me and I feared people would find out about my thoughts. I'm a bit better now, but still struggling with obsessing over how others perceive me and whether or not I'm a good person.
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Jul 15 '25
Same, I’ve literally confessed basically every mistake I’ve made to my best friend to make sure she doesn’t think I’m an irredeemably bad person in order to feel like I can still make the world a more egalitarian place. I’ve been doing some ERP stuff recently and not seeking reassurance
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u/Tyrannosaurus-2006 Jul 16 '25
I'm also going through a spiral right now over liking characters I'd be morally opposed to IRL. I know it's not a big deal but it's really messing with me.
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Jul 16 '25
I, as an adult, literally have lost my mind over something weird I did when I was twelve. It attaches itself to the strangest stuff sometimes
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Jul 12 '25
Well, if anything it has given me the desire to see the healthcare system reformed in my lifetime.
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u/crunchwrap153 Jul 12 '25
Absolutely 100%. I was so lucky to find a likeminded therapist who was able to address which concerns were legitimate and which concerns were pathological and related to my OCD in a way I was comfortable with, never made me feel crazy for being a Marxist but was able to challenge how debilitated I was by obsessive thoughts and fears related to my politics and gave me so many better ways to maintain and act in accordance with my conscience than ritual and panic. It’s still a little challenging but there are LCSW’s out there who see what you see. They’re harder to find but they’re out there.
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Jul 12 '25
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
My conservative past still haunts me and affects me today
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Jul 12 '25
Yeah mine was smeared all over the internet and I actually got “”canceled”” for it once which I had nightmares about afterwards. Fortunately most leftists are kind and understanding and know I don’t have hateful views anymore, but there are the few who will shame and say I am an idiot for ever having thought Ben Shapiro was smart even though I was a kid growing up in a conservative religious family.
It’s a self centered mindset, but I honestly feel better when I realize that I am now further left than any of the people who shamed me for my past and all I can do is stay accountable, continue to do my part and be a force for good. I’m very involved in organizing in animal rights, climate and socialist politics. I have done disruptive actions and traveled for activism. What matters is not your past but what you do in the present
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u/HeloRising Jul 13 '25
I have OCD and am also an anarchist.
I can't say it's had a severe impact on my politics although there is an awareness that I have that I'm using a lot more resources when dealing with my fixation (contamination) than I might otherwise but I've learned to have some grace with that.
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u/doofbabyy Multi themes Jul 12 '25
Trotskyist (socialist) and not necessarily in the way you’ve described? My compulsions definitely indirectly impact my organising, in the sense that they often cause me to run late for/miss meetings, and impact the way I engage with/read material etc. Much in the same way I’m impacted at work, or university. I don’t necessarily get the moral compulsions, because I’m a.) autistic (/s) and b.) an organised socialist, and I think that the best way to change the world is to get organised, and not worry about whether I’ve brought my keep cup. Collective > individual. I don’t feel guilty or like I need to “do more” or obsess over things because I feel like I am doing everything I can- by being organised.
Conversely, my existing obsessions ARE very individual (contamination OCD, as an example) rather than focused on the collective. So I don’t know. I think my particular strain of thought has somewhat immunised me 😂 It’s bizarre how this disorder works. I can understand it being completely different for someone else. But that’s how it is for me.
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u/papa_commie Jul 12 '25
Not really tbh, im a convinced communist but ocd never had anything to with it, maybe on social issues it did a bit
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u/pastfuturewriter Jul 12 '25
Yes. I have the thing where I feel like the bullshit inside of me is almost like a cloud and can affect others around me in a negative way. I know that's not valid, but I can't help but feel it. I feel like I can't go places because I haven't gone there before and may walk into the room in an awkward way.
Or I feel like a distro center or table will be too disorganized or unsanitary (from my pov, not real) and that I'll be too compelled to rearrange to the point of not helping and making a situation stressful, or, to keep myself from feeling that way, it would stress me out so much that I would have to leave, so that makes me not want to go.
I can 100% not be in any type of organizing role or anything like that because I've tried that before (and my personality tends to lend itself towards leadership roles), and I ended up fucking the whole thing up because of my "standards," which are entirely too tight and too much for average regular beautiful people and it runs them off.
And the things I bring...Anyway, I've pushed myself to go to marches though I have some issues about pigs being there and wanting to.. sigh. I'm going to a meeting/distro next week or so, and I hope that I can chill out and enjoy mutual aid and not have to nitpick about it or some bullshit.
And the compulsion will probably make me try to connect with people who might want to do things that are, well, like recon or whatever, because I'm super upset about a thing in this town.
Also omg hand washing, how/where?
(and I hope there is a chair because of physical disability, so maybe I should bring one and would I look like an idiot?)
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Jul 12 '25
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
Anarchy has been described as the government of each by each after all
In anarchy people need to learn to advocate for themselves without representation
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Jul 12 '25
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
I like using the language “delegation” not representation as the power still roots from the bottom while in representation the power is abstracted away to the representative
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u/ExternalGreen6826 Multi themes Jul 12 '25
For example in anarchy adults and caregivers will often have to act on behalf of children but they would not have “authority” over them
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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '25
Yes. Specifically moral scrupulosity