In August 2015 the first post went live on The Secret Illness Wall. There are now 150 Wall Posts, each one a personal story of how OCD affects them.

Up until recently The Wall had only existed in an online space but at the OCD Action annual conference in March 2018, we were able to create the first ever interactive exhibition based on The Wall.

Here is a short video about The Wall Exhibition.

The Wall Exhibition consisted of 19 stories taken from The Wall, each one carefully written up in the form of a letter and displayed with a prop and picture frame. Here are the 19 exhibits:

James, 31, New Jersey, UK

“If I can’t remember the Jurassic Park theme music then our plane will crash”

Prop: inflatable dinosaur

Jonathan, 35, Kent, UK

“I can affect fate”

Prop: clapper board

Jessica, 23, New Hampshire, USA

“I wonder if I even love my husband?” & “One day I fear that OCD will take over”

Prop: Batman mask

Graham, USA

“Did I unknowingly commit a crime or wrong in the past, for which I will be horribly punished in the future?”

Prop: handcuffs

Stephanie, 27, Perth, Australia

“OCD is my battlefield”

Prop: white socks

Beth, 23, West Midlands, UK

“Sometimes that “what if?” is just too much to ignore”

Prop: pinball machine

Helen, 30, Heidelberg, Germany

“I used to take my hair straighteners to work so that I could always check they were off”

Prop: hair straighteners

Aarti, 22, Mumbai, India

“I was obsessed with the idea of being possessed”

Prop: Virgin Mary

Anon, 22, South Africa

“After brushing my teeth I need to make myself gag to make sure nothing bad went down my throat”

Prop: toothbrush

Loretta, 39, Colorado, USA

“What if I stabbed my baby with this knife?”

Prop: baby mobile

Sage, 14, Alberta, Canada

“I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t think. It was this debilitating blur that I couldn’t shake”

Prop: goldfish in bowl

Eric, 19, Toronto, Canada

“There’s something important I’ve forgotten to do. There’s something more”

Prop: Vampire book

Anon, 24, Minnesota, USA

“I was pregnant. I was sure of it. Even though there was no possible way I could be pregnant”

Prop: pregnancy test

Anna, 22, Czech Republic

“It’s dirty”

Prop: strawberries

Amanda, 27, Delaware, USA

“Maybe I have AIDS or Hepatitis C”

Prop: remote control with batteries removed

Elina, 20, Ioannina, Greece

“I do love my boyfriend but my OCD is killing me every single day!”

Prop: love heart

Lindsey, 20, Pennsylvania, USA

“I often worry that I’ll end up like Ted Bundy, or that I’ll suddenly lose control and stab my loved ones”

Prop: Stephen King novels

Angela, 30, Michigan, USA

“I was looking through a window at a world I was not a part of”

Prop: toy alligator

Anon, 34, UK

“It breaks my heart to see OCD bullying my son”

Prop: football boot

This exhibition would not have been possible without the hard work from a fantastic volunteer team. Thank you to Christian, Naomi, James L, Becca, Liz, Mathilde, Emma, David, James I, Alison and Nick.