'I'm a bit OCD'

[Whosecoatisthatjacket]

As a precautionary measure I've altered my user name but would appreciate some advice in case I am being over sensitive.

A manager (not mine, but still my superior) has just sent out an email explaining something minor she has done by saying 'sorry but I have OCD.' She doesn't, she's just very organised and tidy.

I don't have OCD but did used to live next door to a chap with it. We saw so little of what he had to go through-only some rituals such as having to walk down his path repeatedly before leaving the house-but it still seemed crippling.

The manager did not mean to be disrespectful and the tone was clearly light hearted so am I being over sensitive to find it in poor taste? If I'm being reasonable, how do I raise it with her kindly without coming across as sanctimonious? Maybe I AM being sanctimonious??

that was my point. I'm not comparing myself to someone with a diagnosis. I'm saying that I know a person who does have an official diagnosis and so is "kosher" according to people in this thread who say you cant say you have a condition unless diagnosed, but that you wouldn't know from a casual encounter with her where she might say "I'm a bit ocd" that she struggles to leave the house for many hours and is receiving intensive therapy.

I have had OCD since I was 9, and it's incredibly frustrating and upsetting. I too get a bit annoyed at people using it as a term to describe liking order or being very tidy! It is not OCD! It could take me ages to get out of the house, because I would be stuck rearranging the curtains "just right" or washing my hands a billion times, or whatever it would be at the time. It's not fun.

As someone who has suffered from OCD for 22 years since i was 5 years old and at one point had so many rituals it took me 9 hours solid to use the toilet every time i went (including showering in bleach after to get "clean") nothing bothers me more than people who claim to have OCD like it's some cool "quirk". That being said, there are much milder forms of OCD like my uncle, who has to check everything is unplugged several times before leaving the house and checking house and car doors a few times. He manages to live a very normal life and people honestly wouldn't know he had it unless he specifically told them. As such i wouldn't jump to the conclusion your boss is misusing the term and is just finicky, she may well be very high functioning but an actual sufferer of OCD.

Maxam, I don't think it fair to say that a diagnosis is not important. It is, for some a diagnosis is very important and much needed.

I think the point that someone made upthread was that if you don't have a diagnosis, it's either very mild and you haven't needed to seek help and/or could be a similar condition/disorder, rather than OCD.

Yes, so some people use the expression loosely. There's no point in getting worked up about it. Life's really too short.

People often say 'you nearly gave me a heart attack' when someone else makes them jump or gives them a shock, but I don't choose to take offence at that even though my DDad died from a heart attack.

Honestly, some people just look to be offended not just the OP either.

YABU OP.

Where the hell did I say a diagnosis isn't important ?!?

I said I no longer feel the need to get one and that I wished I been taken to get one as a teenager. I'd rather scant resources are spent on them now, frankly, and in no shape or form would I wish anyone to go through what I've been through for the past 30 years.

Sorry maxam, I meant maddie

www.vice.com/en_us/article/language-of-catastrophe-why-we-need-to-stop-saying-were-mental

This is a good link

fair enough user, did seem strange

I think it's a bit obnoxious to say that people who haven't formally received a diagnosis can't possibly have OCD

Except I didn't say that at all, did I? I said people may or may not have a mental illness but the point is they aren't qualified to self diagnose. So to label themselves as 'undiagnosed XYZ' is misleading.

And in response to PPs (not you Maxam ) who say diagnosis isn't important. Of course it is, the first stage of diagnosis is making sure you do actually have the condition in the first place. You might not have it at all or you may be suffering from something different. Once that is established, it open up dooors to accessing treatment and understanding. Also as a young teen diagnosis was very important to me in reassuring me I wasn't going mad and there was a reason I was having thoughts/ behaviours so different to my friends.

Last point, it's funny how generally it's people with true experience of OCD in themselves or people they know who are upset by the slack use of it. Those accusing us of being too offended are showing themselves to be ignorant of the impact it has on people's lives.

Last point, it's funny how generally it's people with true experience of OCD in themselves or people they know who are upset by the slack use of it. Those accusing us of being too offended are showing themselves to be ignorant of the impact it has on people's lives.

Except for the odd few it is always the way on these threads.

I was called perpetually offended by someone upthread. It's pretty horrible that I spoke briefly about how it has taken my son's confidence and I was still called PO. Mean and ignorant.

I watched my son struggle, and while I've been through it all myself it's more difficult seeing your child change in front of your eyes. I think I would be quite abnormal if I didn't mind people trivialising OCD. I was suicidal because of OCD, I keep my head above water now after 30 years of dealing with it. My close friend who got me through my bad patches killed himself because of it.

So yes, I do find it difficult when people misuse OCD and fuck the people who think that makes me PO.

I am not someone who is offended often but this is my bug bear. Massive amounts of people with OCD find it difficult and actually try to raise awareness against using it in a flippant way. Surely we all aren't just perpetually offended?

trainspotting pot and kettle spring to mind.

Thank you to everyone for the spectrum of opinions-and the example of the heart attack was great. I don't know why I was so pathetic and indecisive about this but I'm glad I posted as the opinions and experiences have been really enlightening.

Sorry, I didn't mean that a diagnosis isn't important. I agree, of course it is. I meant that people have questioned some posters saying here, "I have OCD, but I've never officially been diagnosed". They can still have OCD, but maybe they can't bring themselves to talk about it, irl.

It's not easy for everyone, I've kept some symptoms to myself for fear of looking stupid. I openly talk about my anxiety and I've talked to doctors and therapists about symptoms like handwashing and checking, but I don't think I've ever told anyone about the intrusive thoughts relating to chanting (for want of a better word) because I feel really stupid saying it out loud.

Because of this I feel like some people won't look for a diagnosis because they're scared to, or simply don't know what to say, but they will know they have it. I have a really bad cold and a fuzzy head, so I hope that makes some sense.

Intrusive thoughts etc can be symptoms of several different conditions/disorders, I think is the point.

Hope you feel better soon

Thanks ThinkPink xx

I get quite annoyed at the flippant use of it also, as I do when I hear, "we are all a little bit autistic". I have a 8yo dd who has ASD and was evaluated for OCD, however, they think that perhaps her OCD tendencies (specifically hoarding - without any order - like you'd see on extreme hoarder programmes). It's rally very distressing and completely controls our lives. She has other 'quirks' - the tv remote volume must always end in a 0 or 5. She is not by any means clean or tidy. Doesn't seem to have a logical order to anything. It's really very distressing.

When I hear the flippant use of such terms, I feel like it really trivialises the severity of dds condition. She is under CAHMS and almost every moment of our lives seems fraught with difficulty. She doesn't sleep with sheets, with duvet covers, howeve, pillows still need to be in a certain position.

Saying you have ocd is not disrespectful to people who have ocd. There are different levels of seriousness of ocd, some people have it a bit, some people really suffer. Saying you have a but if a cold, is not disrespectful to people who have a full blown cold.

I understood the term we are all a little autistic as factual? Is this not so? Sure I've read and heard that? Don't think people mean to be disrespectful when they say that.

Of course we aren't all a little bit autistic.

And as someone with OCD it is disrespectful to say you have it when you don't. Having mild OCD is a lot different than someone saying they are a bit OCD when they don't have it at all.

I'm interested to learn which bit would be autistic 🙄

I would say I have OCD traits, but probably not full OCD. So I would say I'm a "bit OCD".

I am obsessive over checking things like the lights are off, plugs switched off (I have to touch the switch), doors are locked (it's not uncommon for me to leave the house, lock it up, get in the car, start the car, and then go back and unlock everything because I can't remember if I left the bathroom light on or my printer plugged in, for example), my phone / wallet / keys are in my bag (to the point of checking numerous times before leaving). I HAVE to check. I switch my alarms on and off multiple times before I go to bed to make sure they're on, then I have to check again when I'm in bed. And then just as I'm drifting off to sleep something will niggle at my brain and I need to check them again.

I think it's more to do with anxiety than OCD, and my irrational anxiety about the house burning down or being burgled or losing my keys or whatever presents as this compulsive checking. When I write it all down it occurs to me I should really see someone about it.

U2hasTheEdge....Just googled it, quite a lot of scientific articles claiming we are all on the autism spectrum somewhere, and one saying we all have the genes for it. I knew I'd read it /heard if it somewhere. So I think if someone repeats this phrase they aren't necessarily being disrespectful.
I think if someone says they have OCD or are a little bit OCD, they are recognising that there is something not quite right within themselves and that they believe they have OCD traits. It is rude for someone else who may have worse traits than them to say they can not express this. OCD is quite a wide spectrum. I do feel it's wrong for people who may have reached diagnosis stage to disparage all others who haven't.

I think if someone says they have OCD or are a little bit OCD, they are recognising that there is something not quite right within themselves and that they believe they have OCD traits. It is rude for someone else who may have worse traits than them to say they can not express this. OCD is quite a wide spectrum. I do feel it's wrong for people who may have reached diagnosis stage to disparage all others who haven't.

No, most people say it when they mean they are particular about something.

OCD- the D stands for a disorder. You can be an obsessive person, a compulsive person, but it doesn't mean you have a disorder. I can be moody, I can have higher periods but I don't have bipolar. There is a massive difference.

I am not disparaging people who haven't yet got a diagnosis. If someone thinks they might have OCD but haven't yet got a formal diagnosis then fair enough. However, this thread is about people who use the term flippantly when they really mean they are particular about something. Not one person here has a problem with someone saying they think they might have OCD. I'm not really sure why we are even discussing people who might have it but have no diagnosis. No one has a problem with that that I can see.

I don't have traits of OCD. I have OCD. Big difference. Of course people have different seventies of OCD. But you have the disorder or you don't.

Anyway, I'm going around in circles and all I will say about Autism is that having some traits of something doesn't mean you actually have the condition.

autismandoughtisms.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/why-were-not-all-on-the-autism-spectum/

at OP asking the manager whether she had OCD or not.