For a final year university project, Amber Griffith produced a short powerful video about the realities of living with OCD. Accompanied with a poetic voice over, Amber shares how her OCD affects her daily life, from the compulsive thoughts, to the crippling compulsions which accompany them. Despite guiding us through the difficulties of life with OCD, the film ends on a positive note – “even in the darkest places, hope is never lost.”
“A Voice Not Mine was made as part of my final year project at university. This project was incredibly personal to me so I decided to self-shoot, produce, direct and edit by myself. I wanted full creative control during the process, but I also wanted to make sure the message was heard as often OCD is misconceived. Upon explaining to people about OCD I would be often greeted with, “Oh, you like to clean!”. I felt this misconception about the true nature of the disorder and the complexities that you face when living with OCD needed to be addressed, not only to educate and inform but to share my experience with a wider audience. Therefore, I created A Voice Not Mine to give people a view through my eyes and a way to take a more point of view experience on the disorder itself and a normal day for someone who might be suffering from it.
Moving forward I aim to create more videos surrounding mental health, I would like to produce a short series focusing on mental health issues that aren’t addressed as frequently or as well-known as illnesses such as depression and anxiety. A Voice Not Mine has also been put forward by the university for a student television award at the Royal Television society.”
Amber Griffith.