“Oh my God, everything from the standard flicking of the light switch to the less standard—I remember we had guests at my parents’ house once, and I decided that I had to go into the room and stare at each of their toothbrushes until I remembered exactly what both of them looked like. And then if I didn’t remember what the toothbrushes looked like, I had to go back in, because what if later there was a situation where I needed to remember what their toothbrushes looked like? The thing that’s interesting about OCD that can sometimes distinguish it from other forms of mental illness is that you are completely aware of how absurd you’re being in the moment.”