Question 1

What is Simon Rinne's story about?

Accepted Answer

Simon Rinne grew up in working-class Adelaide in the 1980s and 90s, in a testosterone-driven household of four brothers where emotion was not discussed. At eight years old, a comment from another student planted an obsessive thought that his voice would disappear forever. To check that it still worked, he began humming constantly, sometimes for hours. He masked it so well that almost no one noticed. Over the next twenty years, the compulsions spread: checking locks and appliances for hours each night after his parents separated, checking his wallet and keys obsessively at school, checking his car, checking his emails. He used alcohol to quiet his racing mind and to find a version of himself that felt more authentic, but it became another pattern he could not control. All this time, he had no diagnosis, no language for what was happening inside his head.

Question 2

What did Simon Rinne learn from this experience?

Accepted Answer

OCD is not about being tidy or pedantic; it is a debilitating anxiety disorder where intrusive thoughts drive exhausting compulsive behaviors that can consume hours each day.

Question 3

What would Simon Rinne want listeners to know?

Accepted Answer

The shame and masculine culture of the 1980s and 90s meant Simon had no language to describe what was happening in his mind, so he masked it for twenty years until his wife made it clear he needed help.

Question 4

What helped Simon Rinne most along the way?

Accepted Answer

Simon discovered that exposure response prevention (ERP) therapy, which focuses on changing response to obsessive thoughts rather than controlling the thoughts themselves, was what actually worked for his OCD after ten years of other approaches.

Question 5

What would Simon Rinne tell someone going through something similar?

Accepted Answer

Burnout forced Simon to stop hiding his mental illness, and when he began talking openly about it at work and on social media, he found an unexpected OCD community and realized how many other people were living with the same silent struggle.

Question 6

What topics does this episode cover?

Accepted Answer

This conversation includes growing up in working-class adelaide with three brothers, the humming starts at eight years old, parents separate, simon becomes the man of the house, the checking spreads to school, bags, and cars, the checking becomes a way of life, alcohol becomes a quietener and his partner tells him the drinking has to stop.

Managing OCD without a diagnosis until career burnout with Simon Rinne

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