Humour

I saw a young patient who has had obsessional ideation for some time, but it's now well managed. They still have to arrange towels in order, folded just so, arranged by colour and shade in a certain order. They still have to have the groceries and tins in certain places, with the labels facing a certain way.

But there's no more checking, no more repetition, no more repeated routines intruding unhelpfully for hours a day. She has a sharp and witty sense of humour and an enormous sense of living a life full of joy.

I saw her today with a junior doctor, with a view to discharging her. She was explaining to the junior doctor that she has CDO. He asked what that was. "It's just like OCD, except the letters are in the right alphabetical order, just like they should be."

Priceless!