How sobriety has helped my OCD for the better

I want to start this by being upfront about something: I was never really a big drinker. There was always an occasional glass at a friend’s birthday, a toast at a party, maybe sometimes with family celebrations too. But even occasional drinking, although it was only a handful of times a year, always has had a way of making my OCD so much worse. And it did take stepping away from it entirely to understand just how much of it there was and its origin.

OCD, for me, has always lived in the details. It started young, neatly arranging things so they felt "right," at least to me, smoothing out tangles in my hair until my arms ached and a feeling of unease whenever something was out of order, even though most of the time it was not in my control. My mum has always had it too, though for a long time neither of us had the word for it. We understood that it was just how we were wired. That constant need to manage, to correct, to control the things around us so the world felt safer and more predictable.

A little more on OCD and the hair thing

For those who are unfamiliar with how OCD can show up in grooming and other sensory behaviours, like the untangling of hair, there’s research behind it. And I would be lying if I did not admit that one of my favourite pastimes is reading about it. So, such behaviours sit within a broader category called “body-focused repetitive behaviours (BFRBs)”, and research suggests that in the absence of control over the outside world, grooming behaviours provide temporary relief from stress. Studies also confirm a significant genetic contribution to OCD and related disorders. So conclusively, my mum and I sharing it was less of a coincidence, more of well, biology!

But in all this, control, it turns out, is exactly what alcohol takes from you.

The thing about alcohol and OCD that nobody really talks about

OCD is fundamentally a disorder that revolves around the need for constant emotional regulation, be it in your routine or even in how you perceive the environment around you. For example, loud environments in clubs often tend to trigger my OCD (unless it's yelling Taylor Swift lyrics with a bunch of Swifites), and well, it is just your brain misfiring at you on what’s a real threat and what isn’t. And it is all in an attempt to manage the anxiety that follows. Quite honestly, it is exhausting to live with, but when

your mind and nervous system are calm, it is something you can easily work around. And sobriety has massively played a part.

Consuming alcohol, even just for fun, on the other hand, disrupted the very base of emotional regulation. It lowers inhibitions, which again can be accounted for as a fun thing until and unless it keeps you from spiralling, which in my case, very rarely. Even a single drink can sometimes lead to amplification of the unwanted emotional noise that OCD feeds on. The urge to check, fix, or repeat gets harder to resist. And the next day, when the anxiety rebounds as the alcohol leaves your system, the OCD has a field day.

During my uni days, I watched people drink to take their minds off assignment season or even to celebrate the end of exams, only to spend the next few days recovering from it. Knowing what OCD does, those weren't shoes I ever wanted to be in.

What staying sober has given me

Choosing to stay that way intentionally, especially with OCD in the picture, has made more of a difference than I ever expected. I notice it in the smallest things. There is no longer a rush to do something as simple as the dishes the second I see them sitting there. That urgency has quietly loosened its grip. And for anyone with OCD, it is no small thing.

Clarity of thought

Without any consumption of alcohol in the picture, I can actually tell the difference between a real concern and an OCD trigger. That distinction sounds simple, but it really is everything when your thinking is unblurred. It has become significantly easier to notice when it is the OCD talking and then reacting accordingly, which is indeed much more calming.

Emotional Regulation

Okay, full disclosure, I love this term in its entirety because it holds so much meaning, especially for someone with OCD. It becomes very important for you to maintain emotional regulation. And in this case, what alcohol does is amplify emotions that definitely do not need any amplifying. The anxiety that comes with it does not need a boost. And so sobriety helps me establish my emotional baseline by making it more stable, which makes it easier to ride out an OCD trigger without giving in to compulsion.

Memory and consistency

Part of what makes OCD so consuming is the uncertainty. Such as, “Did I do it right? Did I check? Was it enough?” When you drink, even occasionally, you introduce a layer of fog over your own memories. Being sober means I trust my own mind more. And trusting yourself is genuinely radical when you have OCD.

And well, last but not least, a calmer nervous system. And in this fast-paced, digital-first world, don't we all want to calm the nerves? Research has found a significant association between unhealthy alcohol use and OCD symptoms, with risky drinking linked to heightened obsessing, and this relationship is worsened further by co-occurring anxiety. Removing alcohol removes one of the things constantly contributing to that cycle.

Being sober isn't a cure for OCD. I want to be clear about that. But it has removed one of the things that made it harder to manage, the blur, the amplified anxiety, the loss of control over thoughts and feelings. And for a condition that is, at its core, about trying to control something uncontrollable, having more of yourself available to you really does make a difference.

So, for anyone struggling with OCD, I would definitely recommend trying a few weeks of sobriety to begin with to understand how it makes a difference. And I hope it makes a difference in your life as much as it did in mine!

Written by Rithu Athreya

Rithu is a freelance writer and recent International Journalism graduate from the University of Leeds. With a background in academic research focused on women’s health and wellness.