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Ten Fierce Ravens: OCD: You're using that term wrong

thekumbricwitch:

One of the things that infuriates me the most is when people are like “OMG! My room is so clean, I’m so OCD!” or “The volume has to be on an even number, because I’m OCD”

NO. STOP.

First of all, that is NOT OCD. Second of all, if you are willing to easily admit to a room full of people that you have OCD, most likely, you don’t have it and know nothing at all about it.

Let me explain what OCD is. Imagine thinking of something very unsettling. A loved one dying, perhaps. A person without OCD may just shrug it off and start thinking about something else, end of story. But a person with OCD may try to stop thinking about, but can’t. At first it may be rather easy to handle. You can tell yourself that its not true or it isn’t real, but after a few minutes, it starts to scare you. Now imagine your mind telling you that it is real, and it’s going to happen. You know deep down that it isn’t true, but your mind is trying everything to convince you that it is. Your mind is TRYING to scare you. Before long, you start to panic because the unsettling thought is now more intense, and it is literally ALL you can think about no matter how hard you try to think of something else. It causes you to panic and you begin to hyperventilate. You get up and start to pace the room, trying to calm yourself, when you look down and notice that you are stepping on the lines on the floor. You stop walking. Your mind then begins trying to convince you stepping on the lines are making it worse. You back track to one end of the room, careful not to step on any lines, and walk to the other end of the room without letting your foot get anywhere near a line. But once isn’t enough. Twice isn’t even enough. You cross the room several times until you get to a number that feels right. If you touch a line even once, you have to start all over again. Once you reach your number, your mind is a little calmer. But as you try to continue throughout the day, your mind tells you to do certain things, or the unsettling thought will happen, even though you know that makes no sense at all, you perform each task, some multiple times to get to a right number, because your mind has actually convinced you that you HAVE to do these tasks, or you just want to calm your mind, even if it is only for a matter of minutes. You take up a large amount of time everyday, trying to satisfy your mind and avoid going into a panic attack. 

That is just a small taste of what it feels like to have OCD. In case you didn’t know, OCD means Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. The obsessive part is the obsessive  thoughts that you cannot control. The compulsive part are the tasks you have to perform to appease your obsessive thoughts. I have heard of people only have the obsessive thoughts (which is called Pure O), but if you only have compulsive behaviors, that is NOT OCD. That is why people who go around laughing about having OCD because they have to have their TV volume on an even number do not have OCD, they have quirks. If you’ve never gone into a full blown panic attack because your TV volume was not on an even number, you don’t have OCD. OCD is not about doing unusual behaviors, it is aboutWHYyou them.

Most people with OCD don’t even know that they have a real disorder. A lot of them just assume they are crazy or that everyone thinks like them, and they are handling it wrong. Neither of these cases is true. Obsessive thoughts can be anything really, but they tend to fall into the following categories:

• Feeling unclean or impure
• Unwanted sexual thoughts
• Feeling blasphemous about everything and thinking you are always offending God (you are never good enough)
• Thinking you have to hurt yourself or others, or thinking you will impulsively
• Feeling you must always do everything perfectly
• Feeling if you don’t do something, other will be harmed and it will be your fault

These thoughts are completely intrusive and many times terrifying. Having obsessive thoughts occasionally is normal, but having them every day of your life its OCD. Obsessive thoughts are not limited to the list above, but those are a few of the most common obsessions.

Seeking help is a serious problem for people with OCD. Once they recognize that there is a problem, they often still do not tell anyone, because frankly, it’s embarrassing. They do not want to be thought of as “crazy” and so often, they try to deal with the problem alone. This often makes things worse. Even if they do know they have OCD, they often do not seek help, because society has bred people to believe that OCD is a funny, quirky, little disorder that is okay to laugh at. It’s not. Few people grasp how serious and consuming this disorder really is.

In case you are wondering, yes I do speak from experience. I do have OCD. Now you might be thinking, “but you just said that people with OCD don’t talk about it!” Yes, I did say that. I can speak about it over the internet, but when I try to talk about it face to face with a person, I can’t. If I try, I often find myself having a panic attack later on that day. I can’t even use the word OCD around my mom, I have to call it “my anxiety” when I do mention it, and that’s rare.

If you’ve actually read this far, thank you, and now you are probably a little more informed on OCD, which may mean nothing at all to you. My point is is that people need to stop using OCD out of context and learn what it really means before they label themselves as such. Otherwise, it’s disrespectful to everyone suffering from this. And those freakin’ OCD Otter memes, I’m not even going to start on those, but they need to go.

If you have questions about OCD in general or about my personal OCD, feel free to message me, I’ll be happy to answer questions.

If you think you have OCD, or if you know you have OCD, please message me!I am always willing to help, and frankly, I’d like someone who knows what I am going through to talk to when I need help.

(Source: knifeeared, via theseocdcompulsions)