to think that some people are just ignorant?

[MartinCrispyDuck]

I was just on the phone to a friend who described the housework she had done before her PILs arrived as 'like someone with OCD on ecstacy'.

This is something I notice more and more - people call themselves 'OCD' and call other people 'OCD' as an insult when actually it is a mental health problem which ruins people's lives.

Do they not understand that having OCD doesn't mean just ocassionally mean having a flick round with a duster, straightening a picture or washing hands which have just touched a bin? It doesn't mean liking to have a tidy house, or to keep yourself clean. It means hours of washing, cleaning of performing other, often distressing, rituals to keep horrible thoughts at bay. It means having images of dead, horrible injured friends and family pop into your head at any moment.

AIBU to think that some people are just ignorant?

Nope. If you think about 'average' intelligence, does mean that 50% of people are therefore less than average....?

I think a more apt description would have been someone with OCD on Speed, but hey ho.

I do think YABU, it was a flippant remark not meant to hurt or harm.

YANBU, but tbh, maybe lots of people think OCD just means a cleaning freak, I mean a bit over keen on hoovering, rather than an actual mental health issue.
Rather like people thinking being "hyper" is someone with too much energy rather than a medical condition which can be very dangerous for a diabetic??

YANBU to be offended (though I wasn't aware hallucinations of dead friends were a typical part of OCD). But also, ignorance is just ignorance - correct them, and see if they learn.

JaynieB: No, it doesn't mean 50% of people are less than average!

I had ocd and used to wash my hands over and over and count things.

Sounds a bit silly and it was really. I'm glad I didnt have it as bad as some and that I got over it.

I dont mind people like your friend. shes not being mean and I bet if you told her it botherted you she'd stop.

try not to take evrything to heart, its ok to let some things go.

Maths not my strong point.

YANBU.

I suspect a lot of people are ignorant of lot of things. I, for instance, am ignorant on the subject of plumbing.

YANBU. It is something I've noticed a lot of myself, particularly in the wake of seemingly every celeb ever admitting to various health issues. (Wasn't there a non-story a few years back about how David Beckham was 'mildly' OCD?) Clearly, if people are ill they're ill, and without actually knowing them you can't judge how real vs. hypey the story is, but it certainly normalised the term.

I guess your friend wasn't being anything other than enthused about the house work, and slipped into a now common similie (the OCD comparison, not the ecstacy bit). Doesn't make it right, but ignorance is everywhere.

Jeez, you wouldn't believe the number of people who have suggested wedging things in my mouth when I have a fit. Oh, yeah, that's great, just cut of my airway why don't you? Often as not, they mean well, but a lack of information makes them come across as stupid or mean. (Like my former colleagues who would pin me down - so that I wouldn't hurt myself - while having a fit, which only made me shake more violently.)

It's just a throwaway comment - don't be so sensitive.

YANBU. Get over yourself.

She probably meant to say she was cleaning things over and over again ("OCD") and doing all this very fast ("on ecstacy").

Why on earth would someone with OCD be offended by this? Why would saying this make your friend "ignorant"?

PC gone too far. What next? "I took ecstacy and I'm really offended by this girl's ignorance because ecstacy doesn't make you clean floors" yada yada...

I meant YABU, obviously.

She wasn't using the comparison as an insult but more to paint a picture of her behaviour, i don't find it offensive. She wasn't taking the piss, i think you're being too sensitive.

I think this is definitely a case of 'get over yourself'. Sorry.

CoteDAzur - I actually do find it offensive - you would never say, "I've not eaten all day, I must be anorexic", would they?

OP I think yanbu - because I like tidying and doing things a certain way people often say I have OCD which is ridiculous as I havent!!
I find it really insulting to me - and also obviously to those that have

So what if someone said "Just like an anorexic, I haven't eaten all day and I'm feeling pretty OK with it"?

Again, get over yourself. Really.

YANBU.

Most people wouldn't make fun of a physical disability or illness so why for mental illness?

yanbu
people are very ignorant about MH issues and any kind of disability

Sometimes I think people look for things to offended about.

Plazaz people take the piss out of disabled people all the time

Very recent thread on the same subject here.

oh it is a throwaway comment. not something to get upset about TBH.

sorry, but I do think you are being unreasonable, and that comes from someone who does have OCDish issues with cleaning, and the pictures popping into my head of my children lying dead in car accidents.

I have had CBT for car accident phobia and PTSD, and I really would not take that comment as offensive.

I find it offensive - one of my DH's best friends killed himself because of his OCD. A friend of a friend made a joke about herself having OCD the other day because she liked to keep her house clean...there is a difference between OCD and being houseproud.

I do agree that people find things to be offended at for no reason sometimes though

gets me when any unsavoury behaviour attributed to mental health

Sorry about your Dh friend

People often say "Oh I'm soooooooo depressed!!"

I suffer from pnd and I dont find it bad that others who are not depressed say that.