I’ve written about the lack of good OCD representation in film and TV, but today I want to highlight a television program that does a great job depicting the disorder as I experience it: Pure. Airing on Channel 4 in the UK in 2019 and on HBO Max in 2020, Pure is based on the book of the same name by Samantha Cartwright. It tells the story of a young woman named Marnie (Charly Clive) who escapes her small Scottish town and heads to London after experiencing horrific, incestuous, sexually graphic thoughts. It’s a comedy. Over six episodes, viewers follow Marnie as she meets potential friends and lovers all while navigating sexually explicit intrusive thoughts. Marnie can’t ride the subway or walk down the street without looking at someone’s breasts or imagining them naked and/or mid-intercourse. These thoughts and images upset Marnie, who thinks she is either losing her mind or is a sex addict. My own intrusive thoughts have also made me feel as though I was losing my mind. While drinking at a bar one night, she meets and goes home with a woman named Amber (Niamh Algar). Confused about her sexuality thanks to these intrusive thoughts, Marnie attempts to perform oral sex on Amber, but freaks out and leaves abruptly. Just because she thinks about sex with women doesn’t mean she wants to have sex with them in real life. Marnie is confused. I know the feeling. Dealing with unwanted thoughts is emotionally draining. Soon after imagining more strangers having sex in public, Marnie attends a sex addict group therapy session. There, she meets porn addict Charlie (Joe Cole) who shares some insights with her: maybe she has OCD. This scene stands out to me in particular because I similarly had a moment of realization when I first heard these symptoms of OCD.
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Pure OCD
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I’ve written about the lack of good OCD representation in film and TV, but today I want to highlight a television program that does a great job depicting the disorder as I experience it: Pure. Airing on Channel 4 in the UK in 2019 and on HBO Max in 2020, Pure is based on the book of the same name by Samantha Cartwright. It tells the story of a young woman named Marnie (Charly Clive) who escapes her small Scottish town and heads to London after experiencing horrific, incestuous, sexually graphic thoughts. It’s a comedy. Over six episodes, viewers follow Marnie as she meets potential friends and lovers all while navigating sexually explicit intrusive thoughts. Marnie can’t ride the subway or walk down the street without looking at someone’s breasts or imagining them naked and/or mid-intercourse. These thoughts and images upset Marnie, who thinks she is either losing her mind or is a sex addict. My own intrusive thoughts have also made me feel as though I was losing my mind. While drinking at a bar one night, she meets and goes home with a woman named Amber (Niamh Algar). Confused about her sexuality thanks to these intrusive thoughts, Marnie attempts to perform oral sex on Amber, but freaks out and leaves abruptly. Just because she thinks about sex with women doesn’t mean she wants to have sex with them in real life. Marnie is confused. I know the feeling. Dealing with unwanted thoughts is emotionally draining. Soon after imagining more strangers having sex in public, Marnie attends a sex addict group therapy session. There, she meets porn addict Charlie (Joe Cole) who shares some insights with her: maybe she has OCD. This scene stands out to me in particular because I similarly had a moment of realization when I first heard these symptoms of OCD.