To hate people who joke about being ‘a little bit OCD’

[TeamB1]

Just that really.
My other half has OCD. It is not a joke and governs every part of our lives. It’s not just checks- it’s the intrusive thoughts and compulsions and it’s very very damaging.

People who joke or (even worse) boast about OCD if they like things very clean have absolutely no idea what extra damage they do. OCD is a very misunderstood condition.

Yanbu it really angers me. I have OCD and it's crippling. It's not about being tidy and ordered at all and you can't be a little bit OCD in the same way you can't have be a little bit broken legged!

You are right.

However, instead of getting upset I would let it go. People say they are ‘paranoid’ about stuff etc, when they do not mean it in the clinical sense. No-one is doing it to hurt you and you have very limited control over this.

Big sympathy though, I can see it would be annoying.

Yes I totally agree. I don't have OCD but I once interviewed a woman that did and it was an eye opener. For her it was the belief that if she didn't do things in a certain way, terrible things would happen to her family.

Comparing that to a habit of matching pegs to clothes or needing to arrange the cups just so, is so ridiculous it makes me angry on your behalf OP and others who have to deal with this condition.

I'm with you. OCD is no laughing matter

It really annoys me as well, my one massive bugbear is the cleaning companies who trade on it. I have about 3 in my area with things like oven, cleaning, domestic cleaning

I am a little bit OCD .

OCD ranges from mild to moderate.

YABU

I have quite bad OCD and despite multiple CBT etc attempts, it is still there. I will jokingly say I am a little bit OCD to people because I am embarrassed by myself at times and want to downplay it whilst simultaneously explaining why I do the things I do.

NoMudNoLotus

“I am a little bit obsessive compulsive disorder”

Read what you are saying. It doesn’t even make sense.

Also dx OCD it is very annoying. But all we can do is educate people.

My own mother doesn't seem to get it as she can't understand how I can have OCD and be untidy.

I'm mainly germophobic. My logic and placement of things makes sense to me in my disordered mind but wouldn't necessarily make sense to others.

Lots of misconceptions actually. Like also because it's mainly germs for me I've had people (inc supposed mh professionals!) tell me I CAN'T also have checking issues or issues with 'just' thoughts. As if people fit neatly into boxes (I wish!)

But I am less annoyed by those attempting to sympathise than I do with those who act as if I'm fucking making it up! (Again - inc supposed mh professionals) as if anyone would WANT to live like this.

I've spent the last 2 days dreading a thing I have to do tomorrow. I even dream 'in ocd'. Never get a break from it.

It’s ignorance, pure and simple OP. It has been used as a comedic tool in many shows - Monica in Friends; Sheldon in TBBT - and many people’s knowledge of it stems from watching these programmes. I have OCD and have no compulsions to clean or to keep things in an orderly fashion. Mine comes in the form of the most horrendous intrusive thoughts that I now keep under control by taking medication; I also attended CBT for a long time. My tummy is flipping with anxiety by merely trying this, that’s how deep the OCD hooks go. I don’t get offended when I see it being made light of by others as I genuinely feel that they simply gave no knowledge of it and base their opinions on what they’ve seen on TV.

You may have routines or rituals you prefer nomudno that is NOT the same as actually having OCD.

Does it stop you living even a semblance of a normal life? Does it stop you from doing things you enjoy? Does it interfere with your relationships? Your ability to work? Your access to healthcare for other conditions?

Similarly a close family member has Tourette Syndrome and I cant tell you how upsetting is when someone swears and makes a comment about having Tourette's. They really have no idea, ignorant pillocks.

Yanbu. I have been supporting someone with crippling ocd professionally and it has really opened my eyes to her suffering and the ignorance surrounding it.

See I say I am a little bit ocd.
As a child it was horrific. I had to- it's sounds bizarre- tap a certain routine with each hand the same amount of times. And had a lot of list and number things I felt I had to do or something would happen. I also had a thing about switches/ plugs.
I now still have some little things I still need do but it's nothing like what it used to be.
So I feel a total fraud saying I have odc as I know how debilitating it really can be.

I think it's a spectrum. I used to be a therapist and had a conversation about this with a relative who lectured in psychology - he agreed that was a matter of degrees.

Some people with OCD have mild symptoms that they may be able to control to some degree using various methods - whereas others are controlled by their OCD, and it really can cause them absolute misery. Some people can have flare ups in times of stress, change or anxiety.

But yes, many people who talk about having OCD don't really have anything of the sort. They have habits or preferences that don't actually cause them distress or anxiety if they don't do/order/say something, or are plagued by thoughts and fears.

It's a horrible thing that if you don't see it in real life is treated like a joke or minor inconvenience (or something you choose to do, or can control).

Yes - 'ritual' is a good word for it.

I have OCD (diagnosed - had CBT, graded exposure, medication. Other MH issues also). Emphatically not centred around cleaning, sadly, and definitely significantly impacts my daily life, still, even now it’s ‘better’ and (mostly) well managed.

I cannot find offence in this, no matter how hard I try. Do you also find it offensive if someone said they were depressed their football team lost? Or paranoid about a secret being found out? Feeling manic being cooped up indoors? Or that they were so surprised they had a heart attack? It’s a turn of phrase. It does not automatically trivialise the clinical disorder.

And like it or not there is a spectrum of intensity when it comes to obsessive compulsive thoughts and behaviours, and people can be diagnosed due to varying severity of symptoms, not everyone with OCD is as significantly impaired as some posters are suggesting.

Would you rather society in general didn't know OCD existed?
People associating themselves - even slightly - with a condition suggests they are aware there is an issue. No one can understand OCD unless they live with it, but better it's in the public eye surely?

I have ocd and have been diagnosed with it.
It’s crippling and terrifying.
I also have other mental health conditions which all seem to interconnect with each other.
YANBU

Some people are just ignorant and have no experience of it so they simply don’t understand. It annoys me too when people say “they’re OCD” because they like things tidy and clean, and so many people have said to me that I don’t have OCD because I’m not a particularly tidy person, they completely misunderstand what the definition of this disorder is, or they think it’s a good thing to be excessively tidy and clean 🙄
There is different levels to it - mine fluctuates so when I’m suffering from stress it gets a lot worse, some people have it so bad they can barely function.
Mine involves counting, intrusive thoughts, extreme perfectionism, and pathogens. Thoughts that bad things will happen if I don’t carry out a certain action. Repeating the same phrase in my head over and over.

Funnily enough tonight I almost posted for some information on OCD, I’ve got BPD, depression, anxiety- much of what I’ve been worrying about I’ve always put down to anxiety, but DH had to have a sit down with me earlier about my recent mood change.

It’s hard to explain but I have real issues with our carpets, they aren’t stained, but they aren’t clean either. I’ve been hoovering the past week 5-6 times per day, every room in the house, I just want them to look nice, and they don’t. It’s actually distressing to me, I don’t even understand it myself, because I know there aren’t stains, but they Aren’t how I want them.

Cleaning the house is actually distressing, because it’s a reminder that there are imperfections in the house- 19 months old so some settling has happened so there’s that, then there are other things, DH says he will sort them but I’m trying to convince myself it’s all normal.

DD got a disclosing tablet on her vinyl floor the other day. I scrubbed and scrubbed with everything I thought would work, but all I ended up with was 3 hours of lost time and chemical burns on my hands.

I have a dog and I can’t stand my house smelling like dog, Today I’ve been through 3 bottles of frebreeze.

This isn’t my normal, and I’m hoping it passes soon, it’s distressing and I seem to spend my life very upset that no one seems to understand the effect of the carpets not being clean.
-I had them cleaned by a professional carpet cleaner last week, who was at our house not 2 months before.

If what I’m currently going through is OCD, It feels like hell and no people shouldn’t be acting like you describe but people do the same if they’ve ever felt stressed or anxious at any point, they talk like it’s something they’ve been afflicted with.

Agree OP. No one can be just a little bit obsessive, it's a does what it says on the tin type condition. CBT has really helped me, at the minute it's mostly behaviour and less intrusive thoughts (the worst of which being if I walk too close to my child on a staircase he'll fall and die, so yah, not hugely into the kooky cute version of OCD that's bandied about).

I hate the assumptions people make about it. Do you wash your hands a lot?? Bet your house is spotless etc.
I wish my house was spotless but i take 3 hours rearranging books on a shelf, so don't get round to cleaning the kitchen. I wish my OCD were a little more generalised, my issues are so fucking randomly specific that I get nothing done. The anxiety that accompanies it is exhausting. You can't explain the fact that you know something will happen if you haven't done x, y or z as you just sound peculiar.

I have OCD, been diagnosed, and it really annoys me. I have a friend who "liked" to say when she was cleaning "oh my OCD kicked in today and I got the house cleaned!!" I had a chat with her and explained that you can't have a little bit of it and how it effects my everyday life. She still says it sometimes but corrects herself when in my company.
A few weeks ago I was looking at stories on Instagram and the Queen of clean was saying that she is has never been diagnosed but she just knows she is. I think that is wrong, she has made herself on TV etc being OCD cleaning. Saying you have OCD versus being actually diagnosed are two totally different things.

I hate it too Op.
My adult DS2 has OCD and it has at times crippled him beyond belief. Not the hand washing or bin lid tapping or the other rituals, but the intrusive thoughts that have made him terrified to step outside, or go near people. The right medication and CBT..ongoing for the last two years, has helped but it's always there, lurking, threatening to strip him of happiness.
It is listed as one of the top 10 disabling conditions under the World Health Organisation. Top ten!
It has brought my son, and our family to our knees at times.

So yeah when someone says 'I'm a bit OCD' when someone puts their coffee cup back in the wrong place at work, I lack tolerance. The intrusive thoughts are often horrific...unspeakable and totally at odds with the person experiencing them.

I may have let rip at one colleague who says (with a little laugh) 'Oh I'm soooo OCD' when someone moves her stapler. ...