​Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects up to 3% of the general population and is considered to be one of the most debilitating mental disorders. While OCD is a well-known disorder for its stereotypical representations (e.g. excessive urges for cleanliness, perfection, and order), it is often misunderstood. Starting in 2019, the goal of OCD in Society has been to provide a platform to explore the social meanings constituting the obsessions, the nosology of OCD, and the lives of affected people. What can we learn about society and selfhood through a critical engagement with OCD? How do specific ideologies interact with sufferers' obsessions? How is OCD represented in different artistic forms, and what are the challenges in translating a mental disorder into different artistic modalities? How can our understandings of OCD change by focusing on the social aspect of the disorder? And ultimately, what profits can therapists gain from such explorations? The bi-annual conference thus joins OCD sufferers, artists, charities, and academics who work in the humanities and qualitative social sciences to investigate the following issues:

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• Conceptual histories of OCD

• Reflections on OCD through the uncertain future

• Representations of OCD in entertainment art forms (literature, film, music)

• Representations of OCD in visual arts (painting, photography, carving, sculptures, etc.)

• Representations of OCD in social/news media

• Alternative (historical, anthropological, social, artistic) theories and interpretations of OCD

• Spatial practices of OCD

• Practice-based approaches to OCD (e.g., performativity theory)

• Ritual and regulation

• OCD and self/identity (and its intersection with gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, religion, disability, etc.)

• OCD and linguistic practices (narratives, metaphors, stance-taking, lexical choice, etc.)

• OCD as a diagnostic label (e.g. its implications and usefulness for sufferers, therapists, society)

• Critical theory and OCD (e.g. Marxism, Feminism, Queer Theory, Crip Theory, Mad Theory, etc.)

• OCD, stigma and its interaction with (social) norms

• OCD and emotions

• OCD’s interference with social relationships

• OCD community’s/charities’ involvement in raising awareness

• Questioning therapeutic assumptions in treating OCD

• OCD sufferers’ access to treatment

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Would you like to organize the next edition of the OCD in Society conferece in 2026? Contact us!