Sam Ryder reveals why he will not 'medicate' his OCD
Sam Ryder leads a life controlled by his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but he will not treat it.
Sam Ryder loves his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-governed life.
The 36-year-old singer acknowledges the "madness" of his intense daily needs, such as cleaning - which trumps his life - as well as achieving 10,000 steps "for no reason".
But Sam will always protect his chronic mental health condition - uncontrollable and reoccuring obsessive thoughts and repetitive compulsive behaviours that dictate a person - because he enjoys following a really strict routine.
In a candid discussion with 44-year-old singer Paloma Faith on the latest episode of her Mad, Sad and Bad podcast, the Spaceman hitmaker said: "I don’t want to get checked out for it, because I like it. I don’t want it to change.
"I don’t want someone to medicate it."
The intense reality of Sam's life is evident in how he acts when it comes to his need to clean - especially from when he worked in a joinery shop.
The Whirlwind singer said: "I used to be obsessed with keeping the joinery shop clean, to a weird point [where] the place looked like you'd build satellites in there. There weren't a hair anywhere."
The tiniest bit of dirt on the clean shopfloor triggered bouts of anger in Sam.
He recalled: "It was p****** me off that I could see sawdust going over my clean floor."
Paloma noted: "The OCD was more important than your life itself," to which Sam agreed: "Yeah. It's mental, isn't it?"
The "internal madness" strikes when Sam has pals over.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 runner-up said: "If I've got a guest coming round or something, I’ll make sure everything is absolutely perfect, and then I'll stand up and just wait. I won’t sit down.
"So I'll be pacing around. I'll be like can't put a crease in the couch before anyone arrives, it's got to stay exactly like this, like it's frozen in time.'"
Sam has to walk mammoth distances daily because his head tells him to.
The Mountain performer said: "I like getting a certain amount of steps every single day for no reason, the basic 10,000.
"But because, obviously, it's taken me out, and I can't get that sort of walking, I would then tally them up to the step for the next week when I'm home, and I have to make up.
"So I was walking around my town, I was in arrears of 27,000 or something. I just had to keep walking in circles until I fulfilled it.
"So it is madness. It's actual madness, but I'm enjoying it."
And it is a really strict routine that Sam likes.
He said: "I like going to the Peak District for five days and just walk non-stop and live in this weird sort of routine where I come back to wherever I'm staying, usually like just a little cabin or something, have the same dinner every night.
"I don't have to think about anything; come back, eat dinner, go to sleep, and then wake up and go walk for like nine hours just non-stop."
