Luke Combs has opened up about his struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), with the country singer revealing that his worst flare-up in years occurred just a few days before he kicked off the Australian leg of his world tour.
The 35-year-old sat down with 60 Minutes Australia as he rounded out the end of his eight shows in Australia and New Zealand last month, becoming the first country artist to headline a full stadium tour down under.
Combs, who has previously talked about his diagnosis, described his type of OCD as being “particularly wicked” and more “obscure” than what’s commonly associated with the condition, such as compulsive physical manifestations of the disorder, like repetitive counting and performing specific rituals. Instead, Combs said he experiences obsessional mental symptoms — which he calls “Pure O” — which results in “intrusively violent thoughts” and extreme, constant anxiety.
“It’s thoughts, essentially, that you don’t want to have,’ Combs explained. “Then they cause you stress, and then you’re stressed out, and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts, and then you don’t understand why you’re having them, and you’re trying to get rid of them, but trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them.”
“That’s what fuels the anxiety is you can’t ever get an answer and you desperately want an answer for whatever this thing that’s bothering you is,” Combs continued. “But learning to [think that] it doesn’t matter what the answer is, is the freedom to just go, ‘I don’t have to have an answer to that question.’”
According to the Mayo Clinic, OCD is described as “a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears known as obsessions. These obsessions lead you to do repetitive behaviors, also called compulsions.” While the condition typically manifests by a person experiencing both obsessions and compulsions, it’s possible to experience only obsession symptoms or only compulsion symptoms. The organization encourages people to seek a mental health professional when a person’s obsessions and compulsions begin to affect their quality of life.
Combs said the condition has held him back at various points in his life, experiencing his first symptoms in his early teens. But Combs said managing his OCD has become easier over time. “When it happens now, I’m not afraid of it because I’m not like, ‘What if I’m like this forever?’ I know I’m not going to be like this forever now,” he said.
Combs is hoping that by continuing to openly discuss his experience with “Pure O,” others will have a better understanding of the lesser-known condition. He also wants people who struggle with the rare disorder to know “it’s possible to continue to live your life and be really successful and have a great family and achieve your dreams while also dealing with things that you don’t want to be dealing with.”
“That’s something I hope people take away from me regardless of my musical success,” he added.
