OCD hell: ' I washed my hair 72 times a day'

A woman who battled severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder has opened up about how her life was a living hell.

Newlywed Serin Rayner-Davies, from Somerset in England, spoke to ITV's This Morning programme about how she first showed signs of OCD when she was just 7.

She wasn't officially diagnosed until she was 18, and as she got older she would wash her hands up to 200 times a day, wash her hair 72 times a day and shower nine times a day.

She would also wash her clothes up to 15 times a day, reported news.com.au.

"When I was about 7 it used to take us ages to leave the house because I would jump in and out of the doorway and I was so worried that my parents would die if I didn't go in and out of this doorway," she said.

"I felt I was responsible for keeping them alive. It was a huge responsibility for a 7-year-old to bear.

"I think when I spoke to [her father] about it [he] explained to me that isn't how it works and I don't need to do those things to keep them safe.

"That was a real turning point when I was younger but then it got a lot worse when I became 18."

Rayner-Davies' condition was at its worst when she was 21 and would also take a long time to go to bed because of her nightly routine.

She would check the security a number of times before she could properly sleep.

Rayner-Davies is now learning to manage her condition and has undergone hypnotherapy and exposure therapy in an attempt to take back the control.

Her father Denys Rayner joined his daughter on the morning show and said her condition was taking a toll on their lives.

"It's a living hell actually, when those pressures are on you. In our situation I was the trusted one and my wife wasn't," he said.

Rayner-Davies said her father understood her OCD better than her mother.

She married this year and as there is no cure for OCD, her parents were concerned about the impact her condition would have on her husband.

"I think from a relationship point of view it puts huge pressures on the whole family and the marriage," Rayner said.

Rayner-Davies said her husband was helping her manage her OCD and does not enable her obsessive rituals.

She believes her OCD is triggered by stress and said she could not help herself from being controlled by the condition.

"When you have severe OCD you absolutely have to do it otherwise the world is going to cave in," she said.

"It's at the point when your life goes from being manageable to completely blown out of the water until you can't leave the house anymore, do daily tasks to look after yourself."