To hate the term 'a bit OCD' especially when OH says it!!

[LittleMissGerardButlerfan]

I am probably being over sensitive, but it really irritates me!

It seems a common thing to say now, eg ooh I like all my tins facing the same way I'm a bit OCD.

I know it's good people talk about it and are becoming more aware, but they have no idea how crippling it really is :(

You can't be a bit OCD, if you have it, it takes over your life. I'm lucky in that I can manage and it's under control, although its still there all the time.

My OH just said someone was a bit OCD and I just looked at him, he knows how much I hate the term!

I know I am being unreasonable but I wondered if its just me who hates the term?

Sorry to derail a bit but has anyone ever come across reading OCD ?

Gunz

I guess I have a form of reading OCD

I hate the number 7 so when I get to page 27 etc I have to really quickly read that page. Writing the number down causes a little anxiety as well.

On my kindle if I look up a word I have to look up another word to make it even. I often read a paragraph over and over again.

I have a lot of little compulsion like that when reading, is that the stuff you mean?

I have no idea how I read so many books.

I still think saying you are obsessive compulsive over certain things is more accurate than saying you are a bit OCD. Unless you are diagnosed with OCD saying 'a bit OCD' is incorrect but saying you are a bit obsessive compulsive is more factual. Just leave the D for disorder off the end and it makes more sense because everyone is a bit OC about certain things, that is normal, but when you put the D on you are saying you have the disorder. You can be OC without having a disorder so I have no idea why people put the D on the end

A little bit OCD is a good thing, nice tidy house.

Really. And what about the intrusive thoughts? And compulsions that have nothing to do with tidying or cleaning? Do you actually have OCD yourself?

OP, YANBU. DH has proper, diagnosed OCD and although it is now well controlled, before he had CBT and went on meds, it affected his life badly. People just don't understand what OCD is & it's highly irritating to hear "I'm a bit OCD".

Morning Samu2. I think we answered the question about why people do it last night. Lack of education.

And people keep adding things I do. Like last nights post about locking the car. And now the number thing - I cannot have any volume with a numerical scale set on an odd number. By the end of the day who knows what else will have been added!

Gunz this is a discussion so don't worry about asking questions.

People could even say I'm a bit obsessive about something, but I think as others have said its almost a trendy thing to say 'I'm a bit OCD'.

I kind of have a reading OCD as well, to do with certain letters and numbers.

Audiobooks are great for me :)

Littlemiss. I don't think I have seen such a good, well balanced and above all friendly thread as this!

Thank you Ilovemyself I'm surprised its got this far, it's nice to be able to have a discussion on different views without it turning nasty hopes I haven't now jinxed the thread :)

I hate odd numbers with a passion.

I will not leave the house on an odd number (minute hand, not hour)

I do not wear a watch for this reason and all alarm clocks have to be facing the wall.

I used to have a problem with 13. I couldn't put £13 of petrol in the car and I booked holiday for Friday 13th.

I have beat that one though - thanks to my twins that were born 13 mins apart.

I have a boy who was born on the 7th June

I keep asking him if he can move it to the 8th but he won't hear of it

I started a thread about reading OCD a few weeks ago but got no responses, hence why i took the opportunity here. DS suffers from tourettes and some compulsions (sniffing, he has to sniff everything including the pavement) but the reading bit is more recent. Very different to what samu2 describes. Ds has lways enjoyed reading by himself at bed time, recently i heard him reading "out loud" and repeating the same line, at first i just told him to read quietly but 2 days later he came to me in tears he said he keeps reading the same line over and over again and can't stop, he wants to move to the next paragraph but can't he spent 1 hr reading half a paragraph!

A couple of days later he had english homework so i asked him to read the story out loud to me, all was going well for the 2 paragraphs then suddenly it was as if an invisible switch went on, his eyes flew back the story title and he started all over again, i could see him visible trying ti fight the compulsion in his head to keep reading the word and going backwards, he was shaking his head and getting angry, fighting an internal battle. It was devastating to watch. I had never heard of reading OCD, so i just goggled "repetitive reading" and some links came, some people described their symptoms and it was an exact match of what was happening.

Im happy to say since then it has tailed off though, he had his first school presentation which i think triggered it. He still has some repetitive reading traits now which he never had before but it was quite terrifying when it first started. My worry is will it rear its ugly head again e.g during exams ?

So i agree with OP it is annoying when people trivialise it.

Oh Gunz that sounds so hard for him.

I can completely understand the frustration thing, I get very frustrated with myself when I have compulsions but I know I can't stop them.

I would love just to be able to have a holiday where my OCD didn't affect me for a week, it would be so nice but I know it's not going to happen.

I have had OCD for over 25 years now, it's not going anywhere!

You are not a "a little bit OCD" you either have the diagnosis or you do not because it the D part stands for disorder. Obviously if/when you are diagnosed, there is a spectrum. IMO, it's different if people describe themselves as obsessive compulsive in certain areas but OCD is a psychiatric disorder. The flippancy people use in discussing self-diagnosed 'OCD' means it's hard for sufferers (severe or not) in getting their condition acknowledged. Personally, I am not "a little" of anything. I am crashdoll and I have OCD. I am not OCD. I am a big advocate of person first terminology. I have had a lot of experience of being talked about as if I am a label and not a human being, so I have a bee in my bonnet about this sort of thing

Crash doll. Just because you are not diagnosed doesn't mean you don't have it. I am not diagnosed, but as Samu2 said, it sounds like my symptoms could be OCD. And as a diagnosed sufferer I think she is in a position to make that statement.

If that is correct than I would class myself as " a little bit OCD" as it does affect my life, but not in the way it does some people with far worse symptoms.

As Kansas says, ( and the psychiatrist I asked) says, it is a spectrum disorder, so some people could be classed as a lot and some a little. It is just a way of describing them.

To say you have it because you are a neat freak is wrong however

It is a spectrum disorder, you can have it mildly or severely. I said that. I didn't say it means because you are not diagnosed you do not have it but it irritates me that people so freely self-diagnose MH conditions. Also, not being rude to Samu2 nor you but neither of you are professionals. I have it too, I would not pass judgement on you or anyone else. It is a disorder, you may have traits but you are not in a position to diagnose yourself.

I will get my sister t

Oops. Sorry lol. I will get my sister to diagnose me then lol

I think the only problem with that Ilovemyself is that it really has to affect your life quite significantly to qualify for the label. Lots of people have little repetitive quirks etc and they may use them to ward off anxiety and it may have some sort of effect on their life. OCD, though, is a whole 'nother ballgame.

I don't think my OCD was particularly severe, I think I was classed on the moderate-severe end when I got my diagnosis and now it is in the mild range on assessment. Yet if you tell people that what your OCD consisted of was continual visual images of your loved ones dead or dying in vivid technicolour, believing that if you didn't perform certain rituals your loved ones would die even though you could eloquently explain to professionals and others why you knew this wasn't factual you just had a deep belief in it you couldn't stop and mentally wrestling with that, trying to block it out by using verbal routines or physical ones, they assume that this is at the very very severe end of the spectrum.

Actually, even when I was in utter torment, I was still going out and minding my two boys and a person with a very severe case of OCD just doesn't have that freedom, so I would say in some respects, despite the fact I felt like I was in a living hell, I would say my OCD was more mild in terms of functioning. There was no laughing about it at that point, I can tell you. It was a life or death thing.

Ilovemyself Very ethical lol

I know lol. She is nowhere near me anyway. Lol.

As an aside, I know he is a hate figure on here, but Jeremy Vine just did a good piece on Bipolar.

My issues affect me on a daily basis but not severely. That said, it can cause me some real stress if I go away and haven't checked things. If my time away is spoiled because I can't stop thinking about the issue (shutting the front door in my case) I would say that is severe in some ways, but I would in no way consider myself as affected as some.