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by Lily Bailey (Author)
The true story of a teenager with OCD
'Extremely compelling' - THE GUARDIAN
'Remarkable' - WASHINGTON POST
'A beautifully-rendered memoir' - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Because We Are Bad is a gripping, fast-paced non-fiction memoir that takes you inside the invisible war of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - where a single intrusive thought can feel like a verdict, and where the mind insists that certainty is the only form of safety.
From the outside, Lily is a bright, capable girl navigating school, friendships, and family life. On the inside, her days are governed by dread: unwanted images, taboo thoughts, sudden spikes of anxiety, and the persistent fear that thinking something "bad" means being bad.
OCD is not neat, quirky, or harmless in this story. It is urgent, intelligent, and exhausting - an illness that hijacks logic, steals time, and makes ordinary moments feel dangerous.
Written with razor-sharp clarity and literary elegance, Because We Are Bad has the pace of a thriller: a page-turning true story of rituals and mental compulsions, of moral panic and secret rules, of the desperate bargains made to keep disaster away.
Lily Bailey captures the looping nature of obsession - the way intrusive thoughts return, mutate, and demand new answers - while showing how shame and silence can tighten the trap. This is narrative nonfiction at its most intimate: an OCD memoir that turns a private disorder into a vivid, cinematic reading experience.
Yet this is not only a story of suffering. It is also a story of survival, insight, and recovery - the hard-won shift from fear-driven obedience to the possibility of freedom. With compassion and hard truth, Bailey traces how OCD distorts identity ("because we are bad"), and how naming the disorder can become the first step toward reclaiming the self. If you have ever lived with anxiety, panic, depression, perfectionism, rumination, or the crushing need to "get it right," you will recognise the emotional squeeze of a brain that refuses to let go.
Inside this unforgettable mental health memoir, you'll find:
- A vivid, honest portrait of life with OCD and intrusive thoughts, including the isolating pressure to appear "fine."
- The hidden mechanics of compulsions - checking, reassurance seeking, avoidance, mental reviewing - and how they can escalate in secret.
- A moving coming-of-age journey through fear, courage, family, and the complicated work of growing up with mental illness.
- A voice that is intelligent, humane, and fiercely readable: candid, darkly funny at times, and always compassionate.
