The Paradox of Purity: Envisioning Theoretical Directions for Critical OCD Studies

Abstract:This article imagines some theoretical directions for what is deemed as “critical OCD studies.” Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized in both clinical and cultural discourse as a preoccupation with order. This article moves beyond the notion of order making in OCD as a uniquely pathological aspect of the disorder and instead explores what obsessive experiences can teach us about living in an untidy and uncertain world. To do this, the article first draws upon Mary Douglas’s classic anthropological text, Purity and Danger. It uses Douglas’s theoretical framework to show how OCD is reflective of broader social and clinical efforts to assert order and control ambiguity, and how this desire for purity causes perceptions of disorder to proliferate. The second part of this article engages with the writing of literary critic Maggie Nelson in conversation with OCD to imagine ways of living beyond the disorder/order binary. Ultimately, it argues that a reconsideration of order and an embracing of ambiguity are integral to both OCD and society more broadly.