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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To find 'I'm a bit OCD' over something trivial so bloody galling!

65 replies

ocdprobs · 14/05/2017 09:43

Gah! I need to vent.

I have a colleague who regularly says 'I'm a bit OCD' because he likes to keep his desky tidy, I have heard this countless times before. It's not OCD to just be a tidy person!!!!! Fwiw he has been asked before if he actually does have OCD and he said 'no, I just mean I like to be tidy'... Right...

AngryAngryAngry

OP posts:
m0therofdragons · 14/05/2017 11:30

Excuse typos - distracted by dc but you get the idea

AnxiousMunchkin · 14/05/2017 11:45

Dawn you realise you're trying to explain OCD - to someone who has OCD right? And possibly implying that I'm being offensive by disagreeing with your viewpoint on use of the term OCD?

llangennith · 14/05/2017 11:48

Tell colleague he definitely does not have OCD and it's a shame he feels the need to apologise for being tidy.
Stupid manAngry

Dawndonnaagain · 14/05/2017 11:50

Anxious. I have no idea what you're on about. From my point of view it looks like you're picking on me. TBH, I'm autistic so may not have got everything right. I've apologised where it seemed necessary. But, I've had a shit weekend and I don't care. Go find someone else to pick holes in. Not in the mood.

OvariesForgotHerPassword · 14/05/2017 11:54

Flowers dawndonna

AnxiousMunchkin · 14/05/2017 11:57

No picking holes, Dawn, I think you're right you may not have got everything. Although how am I picking on you - you picked on my post first, and I have replied since? (Rhetorical question, you don't need to reply Smile)

I'm sorry you're having a shit weekend, I hope your mood improves.

Ethylred · 14/05/2017 12:14

Is it the use of the precise phrase "obsessive-compulsive disorder" outside a psychiatric context that causes offence? If so, then I can say "I'm feeling a bit OC today" and everything is fine.

littlefurrysheep · 14/05/2017 12:18

it's very irritating but imo not worth raising ones hackles over. some people just do not have the capacity, or even the desire in many cases, to be empathetic or, tbqh, anything other than ignorant.

VinoTime · 14/05/2017 12:37

Goodness me. Why does everything have to be so 'offensive' these days? People can't seem to open their mouths without causing a domino effect of wide eyed pearl clutching. When did we all become so precious and delicate? Confused

I mean, I understand to a degree on the one hand. OCD is an awful mental illness and if you do suffer from it (in whatever capacity), I can imagine how overhearing people trivialising it day-to-day might make your eye twitch a little. But it's just a thing people say. There was no spite or malice behind what your colleague said, OP. There is a vast difference between your coworker making a comment about himself, and nastily making such a comment directly to a person he knows suffers from OCD. I personally cannot understand getting so worked up over this, and I say that as a person who has suffered with on and off bouts of seriously debilitating, poor mental health for 15+ years.

My 9 year old daughter's been diagnosed with Dyslexia. Dyslexia, not unlike OCD, affects people in a myriad of different ways and can range from mild to severe. My DD's left me brokenhearted at times because she often feels stupid and knows she's bottom of the class for things like spelling and maths. She's a smart wee cookie, but she has her struggles. I don't get worked up every time I overhear someone seemingly self-diagnose themselves as 'a bit Dyslexic' whenever they make a spelling mistake, for instance. In my mind, if it comforts somebody to label themselves as such to ease the embarrassment, distress or anxiety of said struggle, then more power to 'em. If it gives somebody a way of coping with whatever it is that's caused a flare of upset/unease, I fail to understand why it's an issue for anybody else.

It's all very well for a group of strangers on the internet to question this man's word choice, but if he's feeling so uneasy about a messy desk that he has to vocalise a label to explain it, then that to me suggests his unease could be very real and shouldn't be mocked, belittled or branded offensive by others. People are just doing their best to get through the day. My advice? Give the poor bloke a break and save your gasps for something worthy of one.

It's a going-against-the-grain YABU from me, I'm afraid Wink

Notso · 14/05/2017 12:37

It's overused but it's no different to when something makes someone jump and they say it gave them a heart attack.
When I was growing up someone getting worked up about something would say they were going to 'throw an eppie' or were told 'not to have an eppie' as in epileptic fit. I hated this having a sister with epilepsy but it's was just a figure of speech I suppose.

KeiraKnightleyActsWithHerTeeth · 14/05/2017 13:28

There is a whole sub genre of people on Instagram who are into cleaning and about 25% of them have OCD in their username. When questioned about it they say "it's just a bit of fun" or "OMG HATER, I just like things clean."

I have an OCD diagnosis and I like things clean and tidy but they are two totally different parts of me. My OCD centres around keeping myself and my children pristine, it has broken me and nearly killed me many times. I am lucky that I have it under complete control now.

You don't have people using phrases like "I'm a bit cancery" when they have a cold and it's because people respect physical manifestations of ill health but they won't accept mental illness as serious. You also tend to see that many people think they are very clued into mental illness and advocating for others but can only see depression as a true mental illness or that all mental illnesses have one form of treatment.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 14/05/2017 13:35

There was a thread on here yesterday "Omg I am literally on the way to alcoholism" - it was a poster who was pleased to have found her favourite retro drink in the shop. I found that quite offensive but she clearly didn't set out to offend; just be pleased for people that they don't understand!

kali110 · 14/05/2017 13:54

Can't say it bothers me when people use this term. I know it bothers others and that's fair enough, but i can't get worked up about it.

Whisky2014 · 14/05/2017 13:59

I pull my hair out.
People say "I was so stressed I was pulling my hair out". No you fucking weren't and shut up. It gives me the rage when I hear it because they have no idea what it's like to live with this condition. Humiliation, guilt, shame, embarrassment.

Gwenhwyfar · 16/05/2017 19:37

"You don't have people using phrases like "I'm a bit cancery" when they have a cold"

Don't be silly. We say things like "I feel like death" just with a bad cold or "I'm dying of hunger".

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