“90 Day Fiance” star Catie Norboe is firing back at medical experts who publicly doubted her claims that her controversial behavior is the result of her Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Catie took to social media on Wednesday to address a video recently made by several experts who specialize in OCD. In the video, the experts stated that Catie gives viewers the wrong impression of how OCD works. They also claimed that Catie’s behaviors exhibited on the show are actually the opposite of those caused by OCD.
Fans have watched throughout Season 12 as Catie has blamed her habit of making out with friends (while drunk) on intrusive thoughts caused by OCD.
“When I get drunk, I really want to makeout with everyone I know, especially when I’m in a happy mood or in a really insecure, bad mood,” Catie has stated on the show. “I just get really into the moment and I think, ‘Wow, I think making out with this person is a great idea!’”
Experts from the OCD Institute of Texas (OCDI Texas) posted– and later deleted– a TikTok video reacting to a clip of Catie’s comments from the show. In the video, three licensed clinical social workers (LCSW) weighed in on Catie’s claims in what they called, “Reality Check with OCD Institute Texas.”
“Yeah, that’s not how it works,” one expert stated of Catie’s OCD claims, with another adding, “[That] definitely gives the wrong impression of what OCD actually is. You don’t engage in those behaviors; you’re terrified of them.”
One of the experts noted that Catie didn’t appear anxious on the show, while a third reiterated that OCD involves “unwanted and intrusive thoughts.”
“[Catie] very clearly talks about how she really wants to [makeout with people], as it feels fun, it feels exciting and it’s something that she’s drawn to,” one expert stated.
“And when she’s in this good mood and happy, she’s doing those behaviors,” Dr. Liz McIngvale said of Catie. “That is the opposite of OCD. OCD causes individuals to do behaviors that they don’t like, they don’t enjoy, they don’t find pleasure in them. They do them simply to get rid of the thought. So, I think it’s so important for us to fix this miscommunication around intrusive thoughts.
“Not all intrusive thoughts are OCD,” she continued. “Sometimes, intrusive thoughts are enjoyable, and you act on them, but it doesn’t mean they’re OCD. OCD is unwanted intrusive thoughts that we don’t like, we don’t enjoy. We do behaviors so that we don’t act on them.”
OCDI Texas has since removed the video from TikTok. However, Catie took to Instagram on Wednesday to post a two-part response to the allegation that she has provided “a bad representation of OCD.”
(Catie incorrectly directed her response to the organization NOCD, though OCDI Texas actually posted the video in question.)
According to Catie, the experts are “discounting [her] OCD” by commenting on clips from a reality TV show that is “highly edited.”
“ … Yes, there are actions that I’m not proud of,” Catie said. “I don’t like watching myself back drunk, that was bad, but I do have OCD … .”
Catie called public comments about her and her diagnosis “really gross,” claiming that TLC filmed extensive content about her OCD that viewers never saw.
“I actually have OCD,” Catie insisted. “I’ve struggled with it for years. The making out with people is how the show chose to portray it … I’ve wasted years of my life doing compulsions and not being able to focus on the moment. My compulsions usually are just, like, mind loops. My compulsions aren’t just me making out with people. They’re just mind loops that I have to do to neutralize a thought.
“ … I don’t like talking about my OCD thoughts [because] they’re stressful and horrible, but I probably did on the show. They just may not have shown it in a way that accurately portrays them,” she continued.
To give some insight into her OCD struggles, Catie explained that she was “unfunctional” during the pandemic in 2020. She claimed that she often spent hours in the bathroom battling negative thoughts about herself.
“I was like, ‘I need to prove that I didn’t harm this person, or else I can’t focus on anything,’” she recalled. “Like, I’d spend hours in the bathroom trying to do that.”
Catie again expressed her disgust with the video, stating that commenters did not know her whole story.
“[They just know] what production put together,” she said.
Catie’s fiancé Josh also responded to the “unethical” video posted by OCDI Texas. He called out the organization for inferring judgments based on “a couple seconds of TV clips.”
“I think that’s just kind of below the belt and I think it’s punching down and I just f**king hate that,” Josh said. “You might think that they’re speaking generalities and so it’s okay, they’re just trying to educate, and that’s a fine aim. I totally get on board with that. That’s not what they’re doing. They’re just jumping on the bandwagon and trying to get some social media clout.”
Josh said that, if OCDI Texas posted the video with the intention of providing education, they could have reached out to Catie, included her in the discussion or even performed an examination. Instead, he said, the experts in the video chose to “delegitimize Catie entirely.”
He also criticized the experts for “sneering” and “laughing” in the post, noting that they “looked very unserious” while giving their opinions on Catie. He concluded by inviting institutions that may “actually want to do some interesting commentary” on OCD to reach out to him.
Watch part 1 of Catie’s response to the OCDI Texas video below; click here for part 2.
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(Photos: TLC; Instagram; TikTok)
3 Responses
Her parents love her, but they don’t like her. That pretty much sums it up.
She’s blaming OCD for her being a messy, sloppy alcoholic😂 if the ocd to kiss ppl only happens when you’re drinking, maybe don’t drink and stop embarrassing yourself and your fiance!
If OCD was really making her “aggressively make out” with people, wouldn’t we have heard about her doing it with the mailman, a cashier, or some random neighbor? Funny how it only seems to happen when she’s drunk. Because it’s not OCD it’s a bullshit excuse.
She does this when she’s drinking, and apparently that’s a lot. If it bothered her, she’d stop drinking. Blaming OCD is just easier. And Josh probably prefers that story over admitting she’s making out with other guys right in front of him.