Featured Image Credit: SWNS
Topics: Mental Health, Health, Life
Mia Williams
A woman whose obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) became so severe that she believed she was dead and living in the afterlife, has opened up about her symptoms.
Daniella Arenare, 34, from the UK, was diagnosed with the condition in 2020, after battling symptoms her whole life.
But it was while the recovery coach was on vacation in Greece just four years ago, when a swim with her partner spiralled into her worst mental health crisis.
"I went quite far out and suddenly panicked that I wouldn’t make it back, I called to my partner and he had to come and get me and we swam back to the beach."
Advert
But it wasn't while the 34-year-old was in the sea that the episode occurred.
She added: "After that, I became convinced I had died. I genuinely thought I was in the afterlife and didn’t know it.
"I was pinching myself to check if I was real. It felt completely real, like I’d crossed over into something else."
And the belief wasn't short-lived.
Four days after the incident happened, Daniella continued to believe that she was living in the afterlife, and still questioned her existence for months after.
Speaking about the condition, which is often misrepresented, she said: "It’s like having a parasite in front of your brain. It latches onto whatever scares you the most and convinces you it’s real.
"Up until my diagnosis I didn’t have a single second of peace. I couldn't leave the house, I just believed everything my mind was telling me."
She noted that it's common for people with OCD to 'lose trust in their own mind'.
Despite struggling since childhood, Daniella didn’t speak about her symptoms until her late 20s, when she reached breaking point and visited her doctor.
And she now describes herself as 'unrecognizable'.
"I was a shell of a human. I couldn’t eat or sleep and I couldn’t function. Now I have my own business, I live with my partner, and I can enjoy life again.
"The thoughts are still there sometimes but I know what they are."
And she also hopes to become a mother one day, something OCD once made her fear.
Giving advice to others struggling, Daniella added: "At my worst I felt truly hopeless, like there was no way out and I’d be stuck like that forever.
"But there is a way out. You don’t have to believe every thought that comes into your mind."