RESEARCHERS ARE LOOKING into how messaging around handwashing during Covid-19 impacted people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A team at Trinity College Dublin have launched a study on handwashing, which it says is an “under-researched” part of a “hidden mental health issue” that impacts around three in every 100 people living in Ireland.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental health condition characterised by unwanted thoughts or obsessions, and repetitive behaviours or compulsions, that individuals feel driven to perform, often to relieve fear and anxiety.
Lead researcher Róisín Cunningham said: “Handwashing became a global ritual during the Covid-19 pandemic. But for some people, it was already a distressing and hidden struggle that quietly affected their daily life.”
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