What is Pure O? All about Luke Combs' condition as singer opens up on living with debilitating OCD

In a February 9 interview with 60 Minutes Australia, country singer Luke Combs opened up about his struggles with Pure Obsessional OCD. He first experienced symptoms at 12 or 13 and felt "crippled" by them, often preventing him from pursuing his talents.

Luke called the variant of OCD he suffered from, "particularly wicked". The singer reasoned:

"There's no outward manifestation of it."

Luke said most people with OCD would flick the light switch multiple times because of their condition. Pointing a finger at his head, the Fast Car singer demonstrated:

"The flicking of the light switch is all going on in here for me."

Luke Combs told host Adam Hegarty that sometimes, the other person would be unaware of what might be going on in his head.

What most people associate with OCD is individuals repeating a physical action they feel they are compelled to do. In the case of Pure O, the individual experiences a repetition of endless thoughts or mental compulsions that they can't seem to stop.

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Luke Combs elaborates on his experience of living with OCD

Host Adam Hegarty praised Luke Combs for speaking candidly about anxiety and OCD, asking the singer if he still grappled with that issue. Luke responded:

"I do really well with it for the most part."

The singer continued to explain his condition prevails in his everyday life "to some extent". Luke shared that about two or three days before his recent trip to Australia, his condition witnessed the worst flareup in "three or four years". He said his first two weeks in Australia consisted of a lot of "rumination" and "OCD", which was not "ideal".

Adam asked Luke if his OCD made him flick locks, and the singer answered his condition was a little different. Luke said he had an "obscure form of OCD" where one gets unwanted thoughts, leading to eventual stress. He continued:

"You're stressed out and then the stress causes you to have more of the thoughts and then you don't understand why you're having them. And you're trying to get rid of them. But trying to get rid of them makes you have more of them and it's like really complex and really detailed."

Luke Combs told the host it was "tedious" to extricate himself from the grip of the condition. He explained one has to be aware of what to do in this situation and deemed himself lucky to have acquired that expertise now.

As Adam asked Luke to lay out some examples, the singer described the thoughts he gets are mostly irrelevant. So, there would be no point in trying to find their roots. Rather, Luke suggested the only way to let go of them is by being nonchalant about them.

Luke Combs explained accepting that he is experiencing those thoughts regardless of how much he detests it or how insane it drives him. He said:

"The less you worry about why you're having the thoughts, eventually they go away."

Upon being asked about the range of thoughts Luke gets, the singer said they could be about religion, or "intrusively violent". Luke explained his thoughts revolved around subjects that have little to no significance. His brain sometimes produces questions that don't have definite answers, which in turn "fuels the anxiety".

However, if one learns not to pay much heed to what the answers could be, it would free them of those questions and thoughts. Luke revealed his brain gets flooded with these thoughts during his gigs where he usually performs in front of 50K-70K people. He described the feeling as "all-consuming".

Luke Combs described OCD flare-ups as persistent thoughts lasting up to weeks. He now has tools to manage them and feels 90% better, no longer as afraid as before.

In his concluding message, the 35-year-old noted someone with OCD can achieve success in life.