Our concerns about Channel 4's Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners have also been echoed by one of the leading OCD experts, Professor Paul Salkovskis.
Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners
I first heard about what I presume was this programme when I was contacted by the Production Company, Betty TV. They floated the idea with me. I was horrified and I expressed my concerns with detailed reasons (all of which concerns have now been realised in the actual programmes).
So then the first of the programmes appeared. I watched it on 4OD a few days after broadcast, and was horrified. My reaction was sufficiently strong that I had to resist the urge to turn it off. My initial more reasoned reaction was that 'It seems to be inviting us to laugh at and be appalled at both the clean ones and the dirty ones'. And that remains my overriding concern. Amusement and concern in the face of mental health problems, whether OCD or another problem, are not what one might expect from channel 4, a company which not only commissioned and broadcast the excellent “Jon Richardson: a little bit OCD?” but also signed the Time to Change charity pledge on stigma.
So, following discussion with OCD-UK, I contacted Alison Walsh, Disability Executive at channel 4, raising my concerns. She sent a preliminary email saying:
“I certainly hope it will not undo any of the brilliant work that house of ocd did – that and house of agoraphobics are way up there on my C4 disability highlights list. This is a very different show but I think well made. The contributors who have seen their shows are all happy with their portrayals and some very moving and informative testimonials from them will be available on the website. Just on that note below about Linda, she is not suggesting that OCD is a gift but sees her own behaviour in that light.”
The last part about Linda Dykes does seem to contradict the initial press pack put out by Channel 4, which stated:
Linda Dykes is a compulsive cleaner from North Wales who cleans around the clock, day and night. She loves cleaning so much she's set up her own cleaning agency. 750,000 people in Britain suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder and many of them follow strict cleaning rituals in an attempt to control their stress and anxiety levels. Linda, 47, believes that compulsive cleaners have a special set of skills and a gift for cleaning that could change the habits of the nation. So she's recruiting her own army of obsessive compulsive cleaners to help clean Britain's dirty homes and filthy public spaces.
In an email sent to Ashley (Fulwood from OCD-UK) with a CC copy to myself she went on to say:
“I’d also like to point out that the production team have worked very closely with an OCD expert, as well as two further psychologists, throughout the making of the programme to ensure all issues were handled in a sensitive manner.
I maintain that the programme does in no way trivialise Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and the profound impact it can have on people’s lives, nor does the programme aim to portray every aspect of OCD across its wide spectrum. As I’ve mentioned before, the series doesn’t feature anyone with severe OCD who may find the process of immersion in a messy house distressing. Our ambition for the series was always to show that some people who either have a diagnosis of OCD, or appear to show symptoms of the condition, manage their condition, function well and are able to control their anxieties.
As I’ve said before, we always welcome feedback and we did take on board your concerns, but I’m afraid we did not agree with your take on some of the points you raised and won’t be making any changes. The language used throughout the programme distinguishes clearly between the contributors with and without diagnosis of OCD, so viewers understand the difference. A great deal of care and thought has gone into the series and we are confident that the subject matter is handled in an accessible and thoughtful manner.”
Quite what “taking on board your concerns” means is difficult to identify. The official responses to OCD-UK and myself lack any reflective content, and simply represent a defence of their position. So Alison responded to my reasoned concerns with:
I’m sorry to read this email, there are several areas where I’m afraid we are probably not going to agree. Where we can is that The House of Obsessive Compulsives and Jon Richardson: A Little Bit OCD were excellent programmes. I would argue that an attempt to include people with OCD in a different setting, an 8pm features format, is a brave and worthwhile endeavour, entirely in keeping with Channel 4’s ambition to mainstream and normalise disability by including disabled people across all genres.
Brave and worthwhile? Normalising? I really didn’t think so. I’m presuming that the tone of the response is because they are only half way through a series which is already filmed awaiting broadcast.
This 'expert' intrigued me, so I specifically asked about it. I had noticed that there was no expert listed in the final credits, and could not think of any self-respecting OCD expert who would agree to the concept of the programme, let alone its grim realisation! So I asked for details. It's clear that Channel 4 wanted to use the idea of expert, but there was, I think, a snag. So they decided to have their cake and eat it; maintain that there were experts (three, where one had previously been mentioned), but they did not wish the expertise to be subject to close scrutiny. I infer this because, after a long pause in the communication after which both Ashley and myself asked more than once for names of the OCD exper the following was sent:
“In terms of the experts, we simply don’t agree that we should disclose names – it is entirely up to Channel 4 and the production company to establish whether we feel any expert’s credential are sufficient, and I can assure you that it is something we take very seriously. Final editorial responsibility lies with Channel 4, not the expert.
Here is a list of the experts’ credentials and a broad overview of their involvement with the series – I hope this addresses your concerns. It’s also worth mentioning that each contributor’s GP was consulted before any filming took place to ensure they didn’t have any concerns about them taking part in the programme.
1. Chartered Counselling Psychologist (British Psychological Society); Practitioner Psychologist (Health Care and Professionals Council); Accredited Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (British Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapies); Senior Lecturer in Psychology for 6 years
2. Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Paediatric Neuropsychologist (BSc (Hons) MSc PsychD C.Psychol); member BABCP and BPS
3. Consultant Clinical Psychologist (BA Hons. MSc.CPsychol. AFBPSs); Diplomas in Systemic Therapy and Hypnotherapy”
So their experts include one Counsellor Accredited by the BABCP, and two Clinical psychologists, one of whom is a Paediatric Neuropsychologist (represented as a 'member' of the BABCP, a meaningless label), and the other a family therapist/hypnotherapist. No OCD expert then?
So, Ashley and I tried to bring to their attention to the reaction of people with OCD, including sending the absolutely excellent video produced by Claire Watkinson, which incorporates a selection of comments taken from Twitter. Specifically, I did this by writing to Channel 4 through Alison Walsh again. Part of my email to Alison:
While I await a response to my previous email, I thought you might like to see this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DdlXULV3hkI&noredirect=1which is an excellent summary of the things which are being said within the OCD support community.
As a disability adviser to Channel 4, I hope that you are not taking the view that any attention is good attention, even if it is negative in content. I have looked really really carefully and have not found a single positive comment about this programme from people with personal experience of OCD. I have seen some affirmational emails from people wishing they could be more OCD, however, and others who are appalled at “how these people can live like that”. The impact of a programme like this in my view is not in its viewing numbers, but what the response of the viewers is.
Alison Walsh had an interesting response to this powerful and speedy production from Claire:, she regarded it as irrelevant to her views:
“I appreciate you sending the youtube link, but I am afraid it does not alter my views on the series. It is a fair and honest portrayal of the people involved.”
In the meantime, I had contacted Time to Change, Mind and Rethink. Mind and Time to change acknowledged the contact (Rethink have not yet), but so far nothing stronger has emerged publicly. Through Time to Change, these organisations had promoted Channel 4 signing the pledge which is about working to certain standards in mental health relating to stigma, and Channel 4 had in turn made a pledge to work against stigma, a pledge which I now believe they have broken. I very much hope that before long these organisations will respond by distancing themselves from this Channel 4 series of programmes.
Channel 4, through Alison Walsh, next response was amusingly patronising:
“Your first paragraph puts me in mind of something my consultant rheumatologist said to me a long time ago (I have had chronic rheumatoid arthritis for 30 years): he said that although he was there to advise on different treatments and medications, in the end I would become the expert in my own condition, how it affects me and how best to live with any disablement. Over the years I have worked across programmes including people with rheumatoid who are very different to me – refusing painkillers or other drugs, sticking rigidly to different diets, etc. I found that liberating and interesting; I would never argue that those films were somehow portraying rheumatoid in the wrong light.”
Alison’s Walsh’s rheumatology story re-raises the question; why are Channel 4 not paying attention to the OCD community? Anyway, she went on to say:
My strategy at Channel 4 has been to avoid rigid guidelines on portrayal of disability and instead encourage programme makers to include disabled people across all programme genres and aim for honesty and authentic portrayal of as wide a range of disabled people as possible, to engage people’s curiosity, move them rather than lecture them and shut down alternative views. Wednesday’s programme certainly had some moving moments.”
Oddly, I don’t know which first paragraph she was referring to. Here is most of my email to her:
Dear Alison
I watched episode one of Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners at the weekend, and regret that Channel 4 chose to broadcast it. As we know, TV has great power to destigmatise, but this is a two-edged sword. It is not that the programme trivialised OCD per se.
What bothered me and should bother you was the way that it implicitly invited the viewer to be appalled and snigger in turn at the two groups of people who had been put together; the “very dirty” and the “ridiculously clean”. It was hard to see where the programme makers had included any compassion or empathy, and it was equally hard to see how the uninformed viewer would be able to find such.
I absolutely cannot diagnose from short clips on TV, but superficially it had the appearance of one person with OC Personality Disorder paired with a hoarder and one person with OCD and OCPD put with someone with a history of severe depression. Their interactions were painful, but not in an edifying way.
What, if anything, was learned from this quasi-documentary? Nothing discernable other than the implication that if you harangue people who are dirty enough then they will become cleaner (albeit with rather a lot of “off camera” help; as I recall from making House of OCD “if it doesn’t happen on camera it didn’t happen”). This appeared to be purely entertainment, squeezing some sensationalism out of people with mental health difficulties. Its really hard, having watched it, not to think that this is a sophisticated version of “lets point and laugh at the loonies”.
You said: “Our ambition for the series was always to show that some people who either have a diagnosis of OCD, or appear to show symptoms of the condition, manage their condition, function well and are able to control their anxieties.” Is it your opinion that you succeeded in that?
When Betty TV approached me to discuss an early version of this programme and I declined to participate, it was partly on the basis that that is a particularly unhelpful message. Its not a matter of showing that people can manage an incurable problem; OCD in all its forms is an entirely unnecessary illness which, given the right help, can be eliminated SO THAT THE PERSON DOES NOT NEED TO MANAGE IT. They should be helped to rid themselves of it. “
The last shot I know about: Alison Teckman, commissioning editor at Channel 4, wrote to Ashley with a copy to me:
I can only reiterate our view that Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners is an accessible features show with a genuine sense of purpose, looking at mental health issues from a different perspective in an engaging format, without trivialising OCD. It gives viewers an insight into the lives and experiences of a range of people who, for all sorts of reasons, have developed somewhat extraordinary relationships and anxieties about germs and dirt, possessions and clutter. It is made with warmth and honesty, never judgemental, and we believe it encourages empathy and greater understanding, generating discussion of conditions which can distress and debilitate and which many people are living with.
I understand that you and some others take a different view. But again, as Alison pointed out, our job in the media is surely to bring the stories of our individual contributors to the screen in a lively and engaging way so that viewers gain some insight into how those contributors with OCD (whether clinically or self diagnosed) feel about and how they cope with their condition, as well as seeing them interact with other contributors who don’t. Every voice is valid. As they say on OCD Action’s site: anyone with OCD who is willing to share their experience in such a public way is very brave.
This in my view is just a sophisticated version of 'the end justifies the means'.
Overall, having gone through the third mostly recently broadcast programme in the series, it is clear that this series has provided no significant insights, and to many of the viewers will have provided amusement and light hearted misinformation. The swimming pool manager in that programme now wants a cleaner….but they must have OCD. OCD-UK has had requests from members of the public requesting sufferers to help them with their cleaning.
I am appalled at these programmes and yet more appalled by Channel 4’s apparent inability or unwillingness to reflect on their impact. Having exhausted complaint processes with channel 4 itself, I now intend to complain to OFCOM, and urge those of you who agree with me to do the same.
Paul Salkovskis, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Applied Science, University of Bath.
Clinical Director, University of Bath and Avon and Wilts NHS Partnership Specialist Psychological Treatments Service for Anxiety and Related Problems.
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