Episode 68 - OCD, intrusive thoughts and the power of poetry with Duke Al

Trigger Warning: alcohol misuse and self-harm

"OCD is a constant battle of feeling you’re a horrendously bad person. It’s very easy to self-punish."

I have long admired Duke Al’s work, and after listening to this episode I can almost guarantee you'll have an even more powerful appreciation of his words, as well as the man behind them.

Duke is a spoken word artist and rapper from South Wales, who began writing as a young child to try and make sense of the intrusive thoughts that were occupying his brain, later diagnosed as OCD. Using writing as a coping mechanism, he says, has saved him.

“I kept it hidden for years. I felt like the pen and page was the only thing I could tell.”

Afraid of the stigmas around OCD, Duke kept quiet, increasingly turning to negative behaviours as a way to cope until a traumatic experience led to him getting professional help. A type 1 diagnosis at the age of 23 affected his mental health further as the two conditions catastrophically collided.

The pen, again, became his saviour, and Duke continued writing rhymes as self-therapy, until a trip to Zambia prompted him to start sharing his poems publicly via Instagram. Now, just a few years on, Duke has published his first collection of poems, Bittersweet, with a second book on the way. He also now writes and teaches poetry and music full time, inspiring others with his words and ‘making an impactful change, one rhyme at a time.’

“We’re all given challenges, but we’re also all given choices,” he tells me. There is SO much light in this episode, as well as two very special performances. I hope this episodes moves and ultimately inspires you as much as it did me.

FIND DUKE:
Say hi to Duke on Instagram.
Discover Duke’s music.
Buy Duke's book, 'Bittersweet'.