Luke Combs is sharing details about living with obsessive-compulsive disorder, which he says can be “all consuming” in his life.
“When it hits, man, it can be all consuming,” Combs said in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. “If you have a flare-up of it, right, it could be you could think about it 45 seconds of every minute for weeks.”
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is marked by “uncontrollable and recurring thoughts (obsessions), repetitive and excessive behaviors (compulsions), or both,” according to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. The disorder impacts around 2% of adults in the U.S.
Combs, who spoke with 60 Minutes Australia while touring in the country earlier this year, said he has a specific type of OCD known as purely obsessional OCD that affects him mentally but not physically.
While Pure O is not classified as an official diagnosis, according to the American Psychiatric Association, it is a term some mental health professionals use to distinguish from the physical compulsions of OCD.
“The variant that I have is particularly wicked because, you know, there’s no outward manifestation of it,” he said. “So for someone like myself, you don’t even know it’s going on. It could be going on right now.”
Combs says he has struggled with OCD since the age of 12, describing the disorder as “tedious” and “debilitating,” adding that at times it can cause anxiety and disturbing thoughts.
He hopes to use his experience to help kids dealing with OCD, saying the disorder held him back many times in his life.
“I want to be an example for those kids who don’t have any hope,” Combs said. “You can you can still go on and do great things even though you’re dealing with something that’s really tough.”
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