As someone with OCD I can confirm that it isn’t always an easy battle, let alone the stereotypes it has to offer. As a disorder wrongly associated as exclusively to do with hygiene, organisation, and perfectionism, millions of sufferers worldwide go unknowingly living their lives with OCD.

Here I’m going to present to you different stereotypes that surround people with OCD.

Everyone with OCD is well-organised.

Oh wow, this one is just damaging. Are there people out there who have OCD based around organisation? Of course there are. However, this does in no way mean that everyone who has OCD automatically has all of their homework due in on time without fail. Actually, I’m the complete opposite of this, my friends will let you know about that.

2. People with OCD are always busy and on the go.

From the current stereotypes that I have briefly mentioned above (organised, hand washing, making sure everything is clean and tidy) you can see where this one came from. You’d constantly expect people with OCD to be rushing around making sure they’re doing all this stuff, making sure they aren’t late, cleaning all around the house 24/7, having to run to the bathroom to make sure their hands are fully clean, but no, it isn’t always like that. Of course we usually are busy – dealing with our obsessions and compulsions – but never is it in a good, healthy way.

3. Everyone’s a “bit OCD”.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Sorry, but nope. You mean, 99.9% of people exhibit a healthy preference for organised tidiness? As for the amount of people who genuinely “are OCD”, that’s roughly 1.2% of the British population according to OCD UK.

4. People who have OCD would love to clean your house for you.

I’ve heard about people with OCD get asked a lot by their friends about whether or not they could clean their house – for free – because you know, everyone with OCD including those who clean as a compulsion would love to, right? It’s not like that at the same time would cause a large amount of distress… People with OCD revolving around cleanliness do not tend to enjoy cleaning up, they do it because they feel like they have to. It’s a compulsion, not a hobby.

5. OCD isn’t that serious.

Because it’s just wanting to keep on track of everything, right? Making sure it’s all perfect? It’s only making sure that some things aren’t symmetrical, isn’t it? Being just a little bit “OCD” can’t bring any harm, can it?

That was sarcasm. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has actually ranked OCD as one of the top 10 disabling illnesses when considering diminished quality of life and lost earnings. I hope that alone says enough about how serious OCD truly is.

6. All compulsions are obvious.

Actually, while some compulsions are very obvious, there is a specific type of OCD known as “Purely obsessional OCD” or “Pure O” for short. Don’t let the name fool you though, compulsions are definitely present in those with pure O. It’s more to describe how people would see it on the outside – they wouldn’t see the compulsions, so it would look “purely obsessional”. Basically, it refers to those who have “hidden” compulsions, maybe because of how discreet they are or because they’re purely mental, such as rumination or counting. This is a less spoken of OCD, so it’s definitely important to spread awareness of it. A lot of people with pure O don’t even recognise they could have OCD because a lot of the time it does not fit the stereotypes.

7. People with OCD can just not perform compulsions

Whilst therapy has been shown to be very successful in the treatment of OCD, this does not make it easy. Compulsions are actually the “fight” of the “fight or flight” survival mechanism when it comes to OCD. At the time, it feels like the absolutely only way that we can feel safe again, even if just for 5 minutes. (and then it returns…) This survival instinct is very hard to control. Still not convinced? Next time you are in what feels like a very scary, maybe even life-threatening situation, try not to act. Try not to fight, flight, or freeze. Not doing that is just like not performing a compulsion for someone with OCD.

8. People with OCD don’t know just how irrational they’re being!

Incorrect. We know. Unless you have something else going on that doesn’t allow you to differentiate between what’s real and what’s not, we usually know. Actually, part of the stress and delayed treatment caused by OCD is because of how aware we are of how silly and stupid our issues sound. Like how are you meant to go, “Oh yeah, I’m scared my house will just catch on fire because I didn’t count to 5 when I was walking to school”. And they can get much more embarrassing than that.

9. People with OCD secretly love their obsessions, that’s why they’re obsessed with it.

I don’t even… why… If we “secretly loved our obsessions” then we wouldn’t be so stressed out by them in the first place. I don’t get where this one came from. Do people not realise that OCD actually takes on forms of things that scare you? If you have a fear of germs, OCD obsesses on germaphobia. If you are scared of losing a loved one, OCD starts going on about “What ifs?” relating to a partner or a family member having something bad happen to them. OCD loves fear. Having an OCD obsession actually says the opposite of what this myth claims.

10. OCD isn’t treatable. If you have OCD, then it’s game over.

Not true. OCD is considered a very treatable disorder. It’s very hard to get started, but people with OCD through the helps of therapy and possibly even medication can live a normal life without the OCD bothering them every minute of their life.

What other silly and stupid OCD myths have you heard about?