Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Lena Dunham has been making waves in the media for her new memoir ‘Famesick.’ And as she makes her rounds in the press, one thing keeps being brought up: how ahead of its time, raw, and real her writing was on the hit HBO show GIRLS.
And we agree about that, but specifically because of how well she portrayed OCD through the series’ main character Hannah Horvath.
There are so many inaccurate portrayals of OCD in movies and TV, but Girls (Season 2, Episode 8: “It’s Back”) is widely seen as one of the rare times the disorder was shown honestly. Here we see Hannah experiencing a flare-up of her OCD, which takes the form of counting rituals-doing things in sets of eight, like opening and closing a door or eating chips.
What makes this episode stand out is that it doesn’t romanticize OCD or play it for laughs-it simply shows the painful reality. Dunham, who created Girls and plays Hannah, has OCD herself, which makes this portrayal even more raw and powerful.
Representations like this make so many of us feel seen and less alone. Kudos to Dunham for her work on the show, and for showing OCD for what it really is.
Lena Dunham has been making waves in the media for her new memoir ‘Famesick.’ And as she makes her rounds in the press, one thing keeps being brought up: how ahead of its time, raw, and real her writing was on the hit HBO show GIRLS.
And we agree about that, but specifically because of how well she portrayed OCD through the series’ main character Hannah Horvath.
There are so many inaccurate portrayals of OCD in movies and TV, but Girls (Season 2, Episode 8: “It’s Back”) is widely seen as one of the rare times the disorder was shown honestly. Here we see Hannah experiencing a flare-up of her OCD, which takes the form of counting rituals-doing things in sets of eight, like opening and closing a door or eating chips.
What makes this episode stand out is that it doesn’t romanticize OCD or play it for laughs-it simply shows the painful reality. Dunham, who created Girls and plays Hannah, has OCD herself, which makes this portrayal even more raw and powerful.
Representations like this make so many of us feel seen and less alone. Kudos to Dunham for her work on the show, and for showing OCD for what it really is.
