When People Who Don't Have OCD Say They Have OCD

[theoutsider]

Have you ever heard somebody playfully say something like, "I am so OCD!" Or "My OCD kicks in when..." and they don't have OCD? They are just saying it because for some reason people saying they have OCD (much like saying they have ADHD) has become kind of trendy. How do you feel about that?

I always cringe a little inside. Most people don't know that I have it and it just makes me think to myself, "If only you knew what it's really like to have OCD, you wouldn't be joking about having it." It's also kind of annoying. It's like hearing some rich person with no clue saying, "That's so ghetto!" about things that have nothing to do with the ghetto (like a messy desk or something). I wish people were a little more respectful. OCD is not a cute little trendy affliction.

 

[Hellhound]

They give people with mental illness a bad name.

 

[razzle dazzle rose]

Ah, the many ways people can be annoying. This is definitely one of the ways...

 

[w*n*c*a*m]

Well, I know somebody who likes announcing in Facebook that she has ADHD

 

[springk]

Thats really stupid for them to say that.
If they ever knew what its like..they wont ever ever such a stupid things.
Only a person who has ocd knows about it what it feels like.

 

[BrentMcD23]

This is usually my conversation.. ME:"Well, I have obsessive compulsive disorder.. Pretty bad"... THEM :"Omg me too. I have to wash my hands like everytime their dirty and sometimes I hop over cracks ".. Really?

 

[drakir]

same thing with everything really... like anxiety.. people who are just shy can tend to say they have a social anxiety, etc, etc...

theres still alot of people who thinks scizophrenia is the same thing as Dissociative identity disorder. ive seen alot of people mention scizophrenia in the daily language, and they dont even know what scizophrenia actually is......

 

[nicole1]

I hate it. I think it shows their ignorance. They don't have to...live with the pain that it causes in every day life. I would say it's insensitive, but it's so dumb that I don't think they realize what they are doing or saying when they say it.

 

[nicole1]

same thing with everything really... like anxiety.. people who are just shy can tend to say they have a social anxiety, etc, etc...

theres still alot of people who thinks scizophrenia is the same thing as Dissociative identity disorder. ive seen alot of people mention scizophrenia in the daily language, and they dont even know what scizophrenia actually is......

YES!!!!! Most of all, with anxiety, it annoyed me so. Here I was, having a break down and here they were, saying "I get shy, too, but you have to get over it."

 

[theoutsider]

This is usually my conversation.. ME:"Well, I have obsessive compulsive disorder.. Pretty bad"... THEM :"Omg me too. I have to wash my hands like everytime their dirty and sometimes I hop over cracks ".. Really?

This made me laugh! It's so true. Just because a person likes to keep their hands clean or their desk free of clutter doesn't mean they have OCD!

 

[akala]

So true, and I think the most common type i've seen are those who haven't been to a professional and read online articles and take tests... then they meet some of the criteria and assume they have OCD...

 

[theoutsider]

The flip side to that are the people who think they are know-it-alls just because they have been to one or two therapy sessions. They want to lord their therapy experience over others and provide diagnosis that people have OCD since they think they are now experts.

 

[TailsAlone]

Ugh. Yes, I hear this all the time. OCD is one of the most misunderstood disorders in our culture.