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After Getting Tired Of People Misinterpreting It In The Media, Twitter User Explains What It’s Really Like To Live With OCD
OCD—short for obsessive-compulsive disorder—is one of the mental health issues most frequently depicted in pop culture. Sadly enough, it is often used in a casual way, or even worse—as a punchline. However, for people with OCD, the disorder is no joke at all.
A quick scroll through the subreddit r/OCD offers a peek through the eyes of a person who has OCD. One saddening realization quickly kicks in, and that is that people with OCD are suffering. The disorder is an illness. It’s not a punchline of a joke. It affects a lot of lives in a really painful way, so why do we depict OCD with an easiness that, for instance, schizophrenia would never be depicted with?
“OCD is so TIRING, and yet so many people don’t think it’s that serious of a psychiatric condition,” one person on Reddit points out. “The phrase OCD is thrown around so flippantly in everyday life, like ‘I’m so OCD about the way I organize my pens’ that I don’t think people realize how hard it is to live with,” they continue. “Severe OCD is so debilitating. Not every OCD has physical behaviors like checking or tapping. You can go years not even realizing you have OCD and the symptoms can go under the radar because they can switch from one obsession to another.”
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One Twitter user opened up about how misrepresentation of OCD in the media is hurting those with the disorder
Image credits: imdb
The Twitter thread seemingly resonated with a lot of people—over 115k of them liked the thread, and almost 30k retweeted it.
One thing after reading the thread and the comments below it became apparent: it hurts people with OCD when those without the disorder claim they have it. “Every time I hear someone who likes being tidy say ‘omg I’m so OCD’ I want to give them a good, hard smack,” one social platform user tweets.
“I hate when people make the ‘OMG, I am so OCD’ joke just because they like things a certain way,” someone added. “My OCD is an absolute nightmare and I wish more people understood how it really works.”
The thread went viral on Twitter and resonated with a lot of people who are living with OCD
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Follow this [link] to find out more.
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Image credits: shiraisinspired
Here’s what other people had to add to the topic
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Image credits: the_ether
Follow this [link] to watch the video.
Image credits: wheezydisco
Image credits: mothqueenoftx
How do you feel about this? Maybe you’re one of the people suffering from OCD and you too are annoyed by the misrepresentation of the disorder? Share your thoughts in the comment section down below!
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What do you think ?
Lucas 4 years ago
Monica Geller's character enjoyed cleaning. If you enjoy it, get satisfaction from it - that's not OCD. People with OCD rarely feel relieved by their rituals. There may be a point in which they recognise they have 'done it enough' to move on but that point can be a struggle to reach and is not satisfying.
Ren Karlej 4 years ago
My sister's partner has OCD and it rules their lives. Lights that have to be a certain way, obsessive checking - honestly, I couldn't begin to list everything as it would take too long and it's constant. She's not even allowed to say certain things. It is unremitting and life destroying.
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
I have a friend whose other half has OCD and there seems to be this barmy idea that if you live with someone with OCD you never have to clean. Sorry, OCD fixates on something like the toilet handle and this will be cleaned over and over again, but the bath won't be cleaned, the floor won't be cleaned, the basin won't be cleaned, quite possibly the rest of the toilet won't be cleaned. Everything you said matches, Ren, just exhausting for both of them. And his hands are always red raw.
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GeneralZod 4 years ago (edited)
I had horrible OCD as a child. I spent hours in therapy learning the techniques to redirect my thoughts and slowly became less anxious and fearful. However, still as a grown a*s middle aged adult, I count. I count ALL day. Sometimes I don't listen to what you are saying because I am counting the number of words you say. I count the number of red, green, yellow lights I drive through. The people in a room, how many fingers and toes there are total, how many are wearing blue, red, green, etc. My brain is like an Excel spreadsheet doing vLookups at all times. It's the only tick I haven't been able to "turn off" and it's exhausting
Tabitha L 4 years ago
Wow. I'm not a neat person, so I never thought that I have OCD. But so much of what is said here rings true. Especially the counting. And intrusive thoughts. Dear lord, my mind comes up with horrible images. I wash my hands constantly. I will be cutting up vegetables and wash my hands 3-4 times during each vegetable. I will find myself at the sink washing my hands before I even realize I am doing it. My brain also plays "games" - if I make it to the next light first, no one I love will die today. And catastrophizing - if someone is late, or hasn't responded, they are obviously dead in a ditch. I had no idea these were symptoms of OCD.
Load More Replies...
Lucas 4 years ago
Monica Geller's character enjoyed cleaning. If you enjoy it, get satisfaction from it - that's not OCD. People with OCD rarely feel relieved by their rituals. There may be a point in which they recognise they have 'done it enough' to move on but that point can be a struggle to reach and is not satisfying.
Ren Karlej 4 years ago
My sister's partner has OCD and it rules their lives. Lights that have to be a certain way, obsessive checking - honestly, I couldn't begin to list everything as it would take too long and it's constant. She's not even allowed to say certain things. It is unremitting and life destroying.
Roxy Eastland 4 years ago
I have a friend whose other half has OCD and there seems to be this barmy idea that if you live with someone with OCD you never have to clean. Sorry, OCD fixates on something like the toilet handle and this will be cleaned over and over again, but the bath won't be cleaned, the floor won't be cleaned, the basin won't be cleaned, quite possibly the rest of the toilet won't be cleaned. Everything you said matches, Ren, just exhausting for both of them. And his hands are always red raw.
Load More Replies... GeneralZod 4 years ago (edited)
I had horrible OCD as a child. I spent hours in therapy learning the techniques to redirect my thoughts and slowly became less anxious and fearful. However, still as a grown a*s middle aged adult, I count. I count ALL day. Sometimes I don't listen to what you are saying because I am counting the number of words you say. I count the number of red, green, yellow lights I drive through. The people in a room, how many fingers and toes there are total, how many are wearing blue, red, green, etc. My brain is like an Excel spreadsheet doing vLookups at all times. It's the only tick I haven't been able to "turn off" and it's exhausting
Tabitha L 4 years ago
Wow. I'm not a neat person, so I never thought that I have OCD. But so much of what is said here rings true. Especially the counting. And intrusive thoughts. Dear lord, my mind comes up with horrible images. I wash my hands constantly. I will be cutting up vegetables and wash my hands 3-4 times during each vegetable. I will find myself at the sink washing my hands before I even realize I am doing it. My brain also plays "games" - if I make it to the next light first, no one I love will die today. And catastrophizing - if someone is late, or hasn't responded, they are obviously dead in a ditch. I had no idea these were symptoms of OCD.
Load More Replies...
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