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You're Not "So OCD"-The Reality of Rituals



When you hear people talking about OCD in your day-to-day life, what made them bring it up? A slightly-off picture frame, or someone cutting a cake into uneven pieces? Sure, it is just a joke, and most of the time OCD isn't joked about and mocked to deliberately cause harm to people, but for people living with the illness, the effects of these jokes can often be frustrating, and sometimes even damaging.

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In the UK, it is estimated that 12 out of every 1000 people are living (and struggling) with obsessive compulsive disorder. This means that at any time- even right now, around 741,504 people have OCD. in total, about 2.3% of the worlds entire population are living with the disorder, which makes it even more important that the stigma of what OCD really is can be broken-and replaced-with knowledge of how frightening and debilitating life as a suffer can be. 

The O's and C's of OCD
The D(isorder) part of OCD is pretty self explanatory, but what about the O and C, what do they stand for and what do they mean? 

O-Obsessive
The root of any OCD compulsion is the obsession. An obsessive thought will drive the sufferer to carry out actions repeatedly to lessen the anxiety that the thought gives them. OCD obsessions are called intrusive thoughts, meaning that they are both unwanted and constant. These intrusive thoughts can be about anything, but some common themes are of harming other people, obsessing over and questioning your sexuality, fear of contamination and getting sick, and constantly obsessing about whether you are in the perfect relationship with your partner.

C-Compulsive
These compulsions are known as rituals-actions that are carried out repeatedly. OCD rituals can be anything, and differ between most sufferers. It can be anything, such as
  • Obsessive cleaning
  • Constantly checking on people (seeking reassurance)
  • Repeatedly touching certain things (usually a specific number of times)
  • "Checking your thoughts"-mentally obsessing over a ritual, sometimes a form of reassurance 
  • Repeated facial or body movements-may look like TICS
So why are "harmless" OCD jokes actually quite damaging?

OCD jokes almost always suggest that the disorder is simply about being a neat freak or liking things perfect, when the reality is so much different. These jokes push that stigma, making a joke out of a debilitating illness, which is frustrating for the real victims of OCD. Not only this, but that stigma stop people from knowing how to spot the real signs of OCD, so people that live undiagnosed have no idea what is wrong with them, and will spend far too long feeling guilty or sometimes even crazy for their thoughts, not knowing that these thoughts are just a part of OCD, and are no reflection on their character.

OCD is not a joke-it is miserable, it is frightening, it is exhausting.

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