Hannah Comeau - Scrupulosity as a Teenage Girl in Rexburg, Idaho Pt. 2 | Ep. 1309

When Religious Perfectionism Becomes Mental Illness: The Scrupulosity Crisis Among LDS Teenagers

The intersection of religious devotion and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) represents one of the least discussed mental health crises within Latter-day Saint communities. Hannah Comeau's testimony, shared on the Mormon Stories Podcast, illustrates how the cultural emphasis on spiritual worthiness in the LDS Church, particularly in religiously concentrated areas like Rexburg, Idaho, can intensify a specific and debilitating form of OCD known as scrupulosity. Understanding this phenomenon is crucial for parents, religious leaders, and mental health professionals who interact with adolescents navigating both faith commitments and neurobiological mental illness.

Scrupulosity is not simply conscientiousness or religious dedication taken too far. It is a recognized clinical manifestation of OCD in which sufferers become trapped in an exhausting cycle of intrusive thoughts, compulsive confessions, and reassurance-seeking behavior. The condition thrives in high-control religious environments where moral purity is paramount and confessional structures exist to address perceived transgressions. For Comeau, growing up in Rexburg, a city with the highest concentration of Latter-day Saints outside of Utah, meant inhabiting a cultural ecosystem where doctrinal teachings on worthiness, chastity, and spiritual cleanliness were not abstract principles but omnipresent social norms.

The Roots of Scrupulosity in LDS Culture

Comeau's high school years were marked by the typical experiences of a Mormon adolescent: joining marching band, meeting her future husband, navigating dating within the boundaries of the Church's law of chastity. What was atypical, however, was her internal experience. While her boyfriend repeatedly assured her that their physical relationship remained within acceptable bounds, they had "kept the standard for the Strength of Youth pamphlet," as she noted, Comeau found herself unable to accept reassurance.

The problem was not her behavior. It was her thoughts. Adolescent sexual feelings, which are developmentally normal, became in her mind indistinguishable from actual transgression. This represents a hallmark feature of scrupulous OCD: the sufferer collapses the distinction between thought and action, treating intrusive ideation as morally equivalent to