How cancel culture triggers people diagnosed with OCD.
The expression “cancel culture” has become popular in recent years, targeting many in the process. And for people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), cancelling comes with even more layers of challenges and emotions.
Cancel culture is when someone deems an action immoral, so they shame and ostracise its perpetrator. It can be a trigger for people with OCD. Oftentimes, people on social media get cancelled over something they said or did years ago, which can scare people with OCD as it feels like their past is haunting them.
OCD typically comes with obsessive or intrusive thoughts, which can be about anything, ranging from sexual to violent. They appear as images, and urges, related to a certain fear.
Those intrusive thoughts are unwanted and cannot be controlled, solely reflecting a person’s fear; but if a person doesn’t know that, they may believe them to be a reflection of their desires, especially if the intrusive thoughts go against their values. So, the more the fear persists, the more likely it is that the person will manipulate themselves into believing the thoughts hints at their character.
As a result, people might be scared to open up and share their thoughts, fearing they will be shamed and cancelled.
People with OCD also experience compulsion in an attempt to subdue their obsessive thoughts, which results in repeated behaviour or rituals.
Acting on those compulsions only makes the OCD cycle stronger, because it strengthens the belief that the obsessions are really dangerous, when most probably aren’t.
Every individual with OCD experiences it differently. Obsessions and compulsions vary from person to person, focusing on different themes such as morality and religion. Some may be triggered by the fear of being cancelled while others, not so much.
Generally, people with OCD may experience obsessions like a fear of people finding out about their intrusive thoughts or being exposed as a hypocrite or fraud.
One subtype or theme of OCD that makes it hard for people with the disorder, in regards to cancel culture, is false memory, which makes the person question and obsess over the accuracy of their memories.
Given these two contexts, compulsions could present as checking social media to make sure their content is safe, seeking reassurance from family and friends, ruminating over things said in past conversations, avoiding people or places that they fear could cause controversy, and googling their name to make sure nothing negative appears.
Taboo thoughts, more specifically about morality or religious scrupulosity, is another subtype or theme in OCD that can lead to the fear of being cancelled. This type of OCD demands perfection and leads people to believe there is no place for error and acceptance regarding morality or religion, so one wrong move will ruin their life, according to their set of beliefs.
Cancel culture may trigger OCD when the person sees someone else get cancelled over a behaviour that reminds them of something they might have done in the past. They might question if they truly did it, feel extreme guilt and even lack trust in themselves in the future.
OCD is a mental illness with various subtypes, and overall has a large spectrum. However, it is possible to get treatment in order to manage the symptoms.
