‘I suffer from religious OCD’

Samantha Bailie-McMurdock shares her experience of scrupulosity, and how a book by John Bunyan helped her find freedom.

I’ve had scrupulosity for as long as I recall, tormenting periods where my mind is like a record, my thoughts the stylus that burrows ominously in a pesky groove causing it to repeat ad nauseam.

For those unaware, scrupulosity is an understudied subtype of OCD and sufferers live with chronic self-condemnation and anxiety about religious issues. It’s estimated that up to 60% of devoutly religious people with OCD battle scrupulosity.