Somerset newlywed reveals the ‘living hell’ of OCD

A young newlywed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has revealed she once washed her hair 72 times a day and cleaned her hands daily up to 200 times. 

Serin Rayner-Davis, 23, from Somerset, appeared on ITV’s This Morning  today to talk about her daily struggle living with the anxiety disorder. 

The young woman also features in a new Channel 5 documentary My Extreme OCD Life, which provides a fly-on-the-wall observation of her life. 

Serin’s OCD, which started when she was a youngster, saw her wash her hands up to 200 times a day, sometimes have nine showers a day and also wash her clothes up to 15 times a day.

Serin’s father Denys Rayner, who joined his daughter on the This Morning sofa to speak to presenters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford, said his daughter’s condition made his life a ‘living hell’.

Serin, who was diagnosed at 18, has now sought help to manage her obsessions, including hypnotherapy and exposure therapy. With the support of her husband, she has revealed she is hoping to move into a new home with him and take control of her life. 

Serin Rayner-Davis, 23, from Somerset, has been struggling with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for years. She appeared on ITV’s this morning with her father Denys Rayner

Serin spoke about a Channel 5 fly-on-the-wall type documentary that follows her in the run up to her wedding to husband Ioan (pictured) who has helped her to deal with her disorder

Serin spoke about a Channel 5 fly-on-the-wall type documentary that follows her in the run up to her wedding to husband Ioan (pictured) who has helped her to deal with her disorder

Serin recalled on This Morning: ‘When I was about seven it used to take us ages to leave the house because I would jump in and out of the doorway and I was so worried that my parents would die if I didn’t go in and out of this doorway.

‘I felt I was responsible for keeping them alive. It was a huge responsibility for a seven year old to bear on their shoulders. 

SERIN’S OCD BATTLE

From aged seven Serin became obsessed with stepping through the door repeatedly to ‘protect’ her parents.

She was diagnosed at 18 with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

At 21 things became so bad she was washing her hands up to 200 times a day, showering nine times a day, laundering her clothes 15 times a day.

Serin also has a lengthy night time routine involving checking the security of windows and plugs.

Now aged 23 Serin uses therapy to help manage her OCD tendencies as well as writing music. 

‘I think when I spoke to [her father] about it you explained to me that isn’t how it works and I don’t need to do those things in order to keep them safe.

‘That was a real turning point when I was younger but then it got a lot worse when I became 18.’ 

OCD is a common mental health condition where sufferers experience obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. 

Typically a person’s OCD will fall into one of the four main categories: checking, contamination or mental contamination, hoarding, ruminations or intrusive thoughts. 

Checking and contamination were issues Serin, who was diagnosed at 18, has learned to deal with by seeking help including hypnotherapy and exposure therapy.

She said during her TV interview that she relied on her father to help her because she felt he understood her OCD more.

‘I think certain people understand OCD better than other and it just really clicked [with you dad]. Where as I think mum found it difficult to understand.

‘Because I didn’t have to speak or really say anything dad would know what was bothering me and it became him who was involved in all my rituals,’ Serin explained.

Serin opens up about her struggles with the disorder and how she relied on her father to help her deal with her rituals

Serin opens up about her struggles with the disorder and how she relied on her father to help her deal with her rituals

Denys (right) explained that it was a 'living hell' dealing with Serin's OCD and he tried to help her understand there were no consequences if she didn't do a particular routine

Denys (right) explained that it was a ‘living hell’ dealing with Serin’s OCD and he tried to help her understand there were no consequences if she didn’t do a particular routine

Painstaking rituals

Serin believes her OCD is triggered by stress and says that when something stressful happens in life the compulsion can be a way of controlling it. 

‘When you have severe OCD you absolutely have to do it otherwise the world is going to cave in. 

‘It’s at that point when your life goes from being manageable to completely blown out of the water until you can’t leave the house anymore, do daily tasks to look after yourself.’

Denys said of dealing with his daughter’s condition: ‘It’s a living hell actually, when those pressures are on you… In our situation I was the trusted one and my wife wasn’t.’ 

For Serin she felt responsible for keeping her parents alive by jumping through a certain door when she was just seven, her obsessions developed and became worse at 18.

It now includes a lengthy night-time routine involving checking every window in her childhood home is locked and all the plug sockets are empty.

And she will repeat them again and again if she needs to, meaning in can take hours. 

Serin has sought help to deal with her compulsive urges including hypnotherapy and exposure therapy so she can manage her disorder

Serin has sought help to deal with her compulsive urges including hypnotherapy and exposure therapy so she can manage her disorder

Serin’s disorder as a young adult became so intense to deal with that her parents thought their marriage would survive. 

They were even forced to film one of her episodes to prove to doctors just how ill Serin had become.

WHAT IS OCD? 

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental health condition where sufferers experience frequent intrusive and unwelcome obsessional thoughts.

These are often followed by repetitive compulsions, impulses or urges.

It’s estimated that one in 55 young adults in Britain have OCD.

Typically a person’s OCD will fall into one of the four main categories: checking, contamination or mental contamination, hoarding, ruminations or intrusive thoughts.

Two main treatments are psychological therapy which includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), or medication using a type of anti-depressant to balance the chemicals in your brain. 

 Sources: OCD UK, NHS, Channel 5

Denys told Eamonn and Ruth: ‘I think it’s very often we look at the poor person who is the victim in this, but very often as a family you are treading on egg shells throughout the whole time.

‘I think from a relationship point of view it puts huge pressures on the whole family and the marriage. ‘ 

Worried for her safety    

Serin’s parents had to hide knives and scissors in the houselhold because they were so worried for her safety.

Knowing they would be able to hide them in the dirty laundry that she would never touch. 

In the documentary Serin explains how hypnotherapy has helped her manage her condition, and with the help of Ioan, who has battled his own anxiety issues in the past, she decides which is fact and which is fiction. 

Now she believes ‘anything is possible’ and finds writing music therapeutic. 

And she also credits her husband Ioan’s caring attitude towards helping her.

She told the ITV presenters: ‘Ioan is very good in a sense that he doesn’t enable my OCD. 

‘He understands that is not a good way to live and that having a clean space is essentially what perpetuates my illness and keep thinking I have to do it.

‘He is very respectful he always asks if he can sit there or do that. 

‘He checks bless him through everything with me. He is so good and not enabling with my rituals.’

This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10.30am and My Extreme OCD Life airs tonight at 10pm on Channel 5    

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