Content Warning: This article discusses mental health and mentions childhood sexual abuse.
Emily Jordan
People with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are stereotyped as being incredibly tidy, clean and organised. Everyone has heard someone joke about how they’re “so OCD”. Whether it’s rearranging pencils in colour order or carrying hand sanitiser before the pandemic started.
But these seemingly ‘harmless’ jokes feed into the idea that this mental health condition is based on surface-level habits. It erases the deep-rooted compulsions and often harmful behaviours that this condition entails. For those dealing with OCD, hearing their condition repeatedly being belittled can be incredibly frustrating.
Although we live in the age of mental health awareness, OCD has been left behind. It isn’t taken as seriously as depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Why have the same jokes and stereotypes about OCD been used for several decades now? How does it harm people with OCD to minimise their struggles?
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Defined by Professionals
OCD is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. It’s important to identify the difference between an ‘obsession’ and a ‘compulsion’. These are two very similar concepts yet they have distinct effects on those who have OCD.
An ‘obsession‘ is an unwanted intrusive thought. These thoughts may involve being contaminated, forgetting something, or doing something aggressive. Many involve taboo concepts. These thoughts are highly distressing to the individual, often creating feelings of panic or disgust. Everyone experiences these intrusive thoughts, but people with OCD have the same disturbing thoughts again and again, until it becomes an obsession.
“There are hundreds of coinciding experiences with OCD and each individual’s experience is unique”
On the other hand, a ‘compulsion‘ is an act that the individual feels the pressing urge to undertake as a means to relieve, or often ‘neutralise’, the unpleasant obsessive thought. This can be something internal, such as counting to a certain number or thinking specific phrases to fight the upsetting mental image.
OCD Action, the UK’s largest OCD charity, give examples of how obsessions and compulsions link. They describe someone having an obsession with potentially hurting a loved one. As a result, they might lock away anything sharp and constantly check they can’t access them. However, some compulsions can seem less logical to those who do not suffer from OCD. For example, the need to wear mismatched socks to prevent their house burning down.
The Lived Experience
OCD is a disorder with a vast number of lived experiences. Some people choose to label their disorder, although there are no official specific subtypes of the condition:
- Contamination OCD: This is likely what you think of if someone describes their experience with OCD. Stereotyped by the debilitating need for cleanliness, sufferers have even been reported to bathe in bleach to rid themselves of the contaminants. This can be linked to germs, but also bad smells or calories.
- Paedophilia OCD: Individuals suffering from P-OCD experience deeply distressing sexual thoughts around children, but it is incredibly important to recognise that this is “a disorder of anxiety and uncertainty, not sexual urges and behaviors”. P-OCD and paedophilia are two completely different things. People with P-OCD have no desire to harm children and are disgusted by the idea that they could ever do anything that could even be falsely perceived as untoward.
- Religious OCD: This label represents those who have obsessions around sin. As a result, this often affects how they perceive their morality. People who have these behaviours often seek reassurance from their religious leaders, pray excessively and seek purification rituals.
There are hundreds of coinciding experiences with OCD and each individual’s experience is unique. David Adam writes about his obsessive thoughts about AIDs, which involved checking symptoms, avoiding certain places and constantly getting blood tests. On the other hand, Bryony Gordon worried about being a ‘serial killing paedophile’ from early childhood and long into adulthood. There are also some people who only have obsessions, no compulsions (a variation sometimes called ‘Pure O’).
If someone does choose to share their experience with you, listen respectfully and learn how to best support them.
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OCD Stereotypes Are Normalised
Many people often let the words “that’s just my OCD” fall out of their mouths on a near-daily basis. Due to confusion over the condition, many people find it hard to separate perfectionism or pickiness from OCD.
Feeling unhappy if a flatmate keeps putting the teaspoons in with the tablespoons, but dutifully moving them every morning? That’s perfectionism. Having to rewash every piece of cutlery in the drawer as having your clean knife touch their freshly-washed spoon makes you feel as if your things are now dirty and contaminated? That may step beyond perfectionism into the need for a call to a trusted GP.
“It’s impossible to tell who has OCD”
Very rarely do people make comments describing themselves as ‘OCD’ intentionally mean harm. The show Friends often jokes about Monica Geller being an OCD neat freak, obsessed with order and cleanliness. This probably isn’t intended to belittle real people and their struggles. However, ‘OCD’ is not, and has never been, an adjective. Even lighthearted jokes on Friends can result in people being misunderstood.
People with OCD can face painfully convincing intrusive thoughts around distressing topics which shouldn’t be used as a throwaway remark. The debilitating nature of the condition minimises their near-constant feelings of anxiety and doubt. Extensive treatments, including medication and therapy, are needed to manage OCD.
What Should We Do?
No one should feel pressured to share the details of their medical history to avoid being unknowingly belittled in passing ‘friendly’ conversation. It’s impossible to tell who has OCD, so before you make a joke about it, it’s best to imagine how someone with the disorder might feel hearing it. Even if it doesn’t affect someone directly, you still might contribute to stereotypes around a highly debilitating and stigmatised condition.
Before you next compare yourself to those with OCD, remember that you never know what someone else is going through. It’s important to practice being kind and thoughtful about mental health, rather than just posting about it online. Remember that you are never privy to the finer details of someone’s life. You never know if someone’s reciting neutralising thoughts to themselves whilst nodding along to a conversation about your next holiday.
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Featured image courtesy of Mélissa Jeanty on Unsplash. No changes made to this image. Image licence found here.
Emily Jordan
University of the West of England MA Journalism Student University of Bristol BSc Marketing Graduate Freelance journalist with specialisms in entertainment, music and current affairs.