The Current What it's like to live with OCD
Feb 24, 2026
Dr. Peggy Richter, psychiatry professor who leads Sunnybrook’s anxiety centre. Reema Youssef, someone with lived experience now working in mental health. Brian Reeve, businessman and former patient who funded OCD care. They describe daily rituals like checking and cleaning. They talk about relapse, intensive CBT plus medication, and a major donation to expand treatment at Sunnybrook.
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When Compulsions Become A Full Time Job
- Brian describes compulsions becoming a full-time job that stole hours from work and family life.
- He reorganized his desk for seven to eight hours daily and moved from four repetitions to sometimes a hundred as rituals escalated.
Relapse Forced A Return To Life In A Basement
- Reema recounts childhood onset and a relapse that trapped her in a basement, collecting or wiping obsessively.
- At relapse she wiped with Lysol so much she even wiped her face and took leaves from school and work.
Use Exposure CBT To Ride The Anxiety Wave
- Do exposure-based CBT: list feared triggers and face them now while preventing rituals to allow anxiety to rise and fall.
- Brian credits the Sunnybrook program's immediate exposures with teaching him to ride the anxiety wave and recover life.