So I Stopped Saying The “r” Word A While Ago Because I Learned That It Was Considered Highly Offensive

So I stopped saying the “r” word a while ago because I learned that it was considered highly offensive

And I 100% support that criticism, I’m wrong to have used it, and I’m trying to never use it again.

And I’d like the same societal shift to be afforded to OCD. Both because OCD is actually debilitating, so using it in a wrong way to make a joke or personality statement about yourself is insulting, AND because it perpetuates a lie that keeps people undiagnosed and without help.

If all people ever hear about OCD is “Haha that painting on the wall being crooked bothers me, that’s my OCD showing”

They will associate OCD with perfectionism and cleanliness, etc. and put OCD in a box. They will hear someone say “Haha I’m so OCD” at work and then go home at the end of the day and spend 5 hours researching symptoms of stomach cancer because they have a slight pain in their abdomen. Suffering from OCD but not realizing they have it because it bears no resemblance to what the other person just described as OCD.

“OCD? No, I can’t possibly have that. OCD is just like, wanting things straight on the wall.”

Bam. Another few years or decades of no diagnosis because of misinformation and misrepresentation.

I went undiagnosed for 7 years (and honestly longer, those 7 years were the worst though) largely because of the OCD myth that’s perpetuated. And I was one of the lucky ones who actually caught it rather early.

Using OCD in the wrong contexts (I.e., anything outside talking about the actual medical condition with accurate facts) isn’t just offensive, it is also something that keeps people from realizing they have OCD.

And therefore keeps them from getting help.

Unfortunately the worst part about this all is that the people who say “Lol that’s my OCD showing” or “I’m so OCD” genuinely do think they have OCD. Because they think that’s all it is.

That’s the equivalent of me thinking I have an eating disorder because occasionally I forget to make myself lunch. That is how ridiculous and misinformed it is.

Meanwhile people with REAL OCD are out there drowning in life under the weight of compulsions they can’t make themselves stop doing. Under their worst fears. Fearing waking up in the morning to more OCD.