OCD: A common complaint that can turn into a killer
Hayley Martin spent three years sleeping in her car because she was afraid her house might burn down. Checking everything was turned off took so long, she never got to bed.
The rituals she put herself through were taking up to 19 hours a day and she was forced to give up work because there was never enough time to complete them. She is one of the estimated 750,00 people in the U. K. suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), whose plight was highlighted by the arrest of the parents of 40-year-old Samantha Hancox, who died after reportedly spending up to 20 hours a day in the shower.
Ken and Marion Hancox, aged 76 and 77, were questioned for seven hours by police after calling emergency services when they discovered their daughter dead in an armchair at the family home. She had hardly left the house in 18 years because of her fear of being contaminated with germs, despite repeated visits by psychiatrists and occasional admissions to hospital. A post mortem showed she died of dehydration and a skin infection and the couple are on bail while investigations continue.
