A woman suffering with severe OCD has opened up about what life is like for her.
Vanessa Ward doesn't leave her bedroom and has been in solitary confinement for the past decade, with the simplest of tasks such as brushing her teeth taking her 90 minutes.
The 30-year-old has said she feels "like an empty vessel" and that she is "being assassinated every minute of every hour by OCD ", describing the disorder as "an endless stream of constant torture".
Ms Ward, from Castlewellan in County Down, Northern Ireland, said she has always suffered with OCD but was able to have a semblance of a normal life up until 10 years ago.
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She said: "For the past decade, however, my life is now dictated solely by OCD - I have no life outside of it.
"I have lost my twenties to this debilitating illness.
"I have been in solitary confinement for 10 years and I haven't left my bedroom.
"My days are spent between a bedroom and an en-suite and I have become totally isolated from all close friends and family.
"I am totally alone because of it and have nearly died from the isolation and loneliness OCD brings more than once."
Ms Ward - who is now trying to raise funds for a specialist treatment - wrote on her GoFundMe page that her movements are now so complex and calculated that she is like in a catatonic state.
"I have set rules and complex rituals that must be carried out in a systematic, orderly and symmetrical way," she continued.
"If I don't do this the thoughts, anxiety, nausea and terror are so much of a punishment I have no option but to comply.
"I do these rituals all day, every day to the point I faint on a very regular basis.
"I have stopped eating for weeks and on three occasions my family have had no option but have me admitted to acute mental health hospitals.
"On the second admission, my health was so critical that I was sectioned under the mental health act."
Ms Ward - who is one of five siblings - said that her mental health has led to a deterioration in her physical health as well, going from 23 stone to nine stone within a year as a result of the anti-psychotic drugs that were tried during a hospital admission.
She also has changes in her eyesight and suffers from hair loss and fractured teeth, together with deficiencies in potassium, folic acid, and vitamin D.
While most adults having a resting heart rate between 60 and 100bpm, Ms Ward said hers is around 200bpm.
"I never get a break from the constant torture and thoughts of OCD," she continued. "I can go for periods of 72 hours with no sleep if OCD dictates it.
"My life has been so miserable - I have just been existing and I feel like an empty vessel.
"After several admissions to acute hospitals where no one could help me I just felt like dying - I wanted to die.
"Death is easier than this endless stream of constant torture and feeling like I am being assassinated every minute of every hour by OCD.
"I wanted euthanasia almost daily but my family kept trying to tell me it will get better."
Ms Ward's sister Priscilla said that, as a family, they can see the endless ways OCD has ruined her life.
The 31-year-old said her sister is isolated from the outside world - with no personal relationships or any friendships - and can no longer do the simplest of things.
Ms Ward now lives in a house on her own, she explained, with family members visiting her every day to bring her food and encourage her to eat.
The eldest sister said: "She has been sick for so long she is now hyper sensitive to sounds and smells.
"A simple smoke alarm gives her an anxiety attack to the level she feels she would take a heart attack.
"There is no enjoyment in her life anymore and she has nothing to look forward to.
"She is a prisoner in her own mind.
"She is also painfully aware how absurd her behaviours and rituals are but OCD always over rides this and she must comply."
Ms Ward said her sister's OCD is a never ending cycle of floods of thoughts that cause endless anxiety and, if the ritual isn't completed, the thoughts and anxiety won't stop.
As the years have gone on, these rituals have become longer and more complex, she continued, to the point her sister now spends every hour of every day carrying these out.
Ms Ward said her sister is crippled and completely disabled by OCD now, adding the picture of her in the bedroom was taken as she spent 72 hours straight trying to catch a small fly in her bedroom with the hoover.
"This was without a break, drink of water or sleep," she continued. "Complete adrenaline caused by fear keeps this going.
"We, as a family, can't even help in a scenario like this because if we enter the bedroom we have now contaminated it and she would have to do endless streams of rituals to the point were she would be so exhausted and weak she would be fainting.
"We constantly feel useless, guilty, worried, hopeless, powerless and heart broken."
The sister said her mum thinks Vanessa was born with OCD, not wanting to be touched or cuddled since she was a baby.
Ms Ward said the OCD's symptoms started to accentuate when her sister was a teenager, for instance taking six hours to have a shower.
Planning on an IT career, Ms Ward said her sister has only ever had a couple of summer jobs in between school years.
She added: "We can't remember the last time we gave Vanessa a hug, gave her a gift, celebrated her birthday, heard her genuinely laugh or that contagious smile and care free attitude she had.
"Our Christmases now are opening presents without her, not having her at the dinner.
"We are all together while she has been sitting alone in a room or sitting in a mental health hospital listening to other patients screaming.
"A family gatherings or weddings, again we have the guilt and sadness that she isn't there and is alone suffering endlessly.
"When wider family members inevitably ask how she is, we are all fighting back tears and the happiest of days are always tainted with sadness.
"She isn't able to be with us but her tortured face is everywhere we look."
The family is now trying to raise funds for specialist treatment with a world-renowned professor in OCD which would involve staying at a private hospital for at least six months, working daily with professionals carrying out Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Exposure And Response Prevention (ERP).
Ms Ward wrote on the GoFundMe page: "I had given up all hope until my family came across a world renowned Professor in OCD.
"They arranged a consultation with him online.
"He stated that my case is quite the challenge and I was waiting for the inevitable 'I don't think I can help you' but to my astonishment, do you know what he said to me? 'Vanessa don't give up hope because I can help you'.
"I can not tell you how that felt. I just started crying uncontrollably. I couldn't even comprehend it. I couldn't believe it. After years of false hope and constant let downs, he can help me.
"The Professor has dictated that treatment needs to be started imminently as my condition will continue to plummet."
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Ms Ward - who hopes to become an ambassador for OCD in the future - has so far been able to raise more than £7,000 but her goal is £325,000.
Her family hopes that the specialist treatment will teach Ms Ward coping mechanisms and tools to manage her OCD, said Priscilla, teaching her to notice for signs of relapse so she can prevent any further deterioration.
She added: "Medications at present will help to change the chemistry in the brain, but the ERP and CBT will help to change the structural pathways in her brain and how the neuro transmitters communicate.
"This is the last resort for Vanessa to try and get help, for her to be pulled from the never ending sea of sadness she is drowning in."
