"I'm so OCD"

Give it a rest. It's both wrong and rude, and you're neither.

It's a common phrase, casually tossed around in everyday conversation: "I'm so OCD about my desk," or "My 'OCD' is kicking in; I need to clean." I hear it everywhere, from social media to sitcoms, often accompanied by a chuckle. But this seemingly harmless phrase carries a surprising amount of weight, and it's time we understood why it's far from benign.

Why Should I Care?

It Disrespects Those Living with OCD

• OCD is a debilitating mental health condition: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a serious, often agonizing, anxiety disorder, not a personality quirk or a synonym for neatness. It involves intrusive, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) performed to reduce the anxiety caused by these obsessions.

• Real-life impact: People with OCD don't choose their compulsions; they feel driven to perform them, often despite knowing they're irrational, to alleviate immense distress.

• Trivializes their struggle: Using "OCD" as shorthand for being particular or organized trivializes the immense suffering and challenges faced by individuals genuinely diagnosed with the disorder. It can make them feel misunderstood, invalidated, and even ashamed of their condition. Do you really intend to do this?

It's Inaccurate and Misleading

• Diagnosis is complex: Diagnosing OCD requires a comprehensive evaluation by a mental health professional. It's not something you self-diagnose based on a preference for tidiness, or worse, you’ve picked it up because it sounded like a cute way to explain a behavior that you are teased about or to validate a way that you like things done.

• Difference between preference and disorder: Instead, let’s challenge ourselves to be more creative with our language. Consciously choose to differentiate between healthy organizational habits, attention to detail, or a preference for order, and the clinical definition of OCD. Most people who say "I'm so OCD" are simply expressing a preference, not a disorder.

• Perpetuates misconceptions: This casual misuse perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes about mental illness, making it harder for those with actual OCD to be taken seriously or to seek help without facing judgment.

OK, now that I know better, I want to do better.

More Positive and Accurate Ways to Express Ourselves

Instead of defaulting to "I'm so OCD," here’s a list of alternative, more precise, and positive ways to describe organizational habits or preferences:

• "I like things to be very organized."

• "I'm particular about..."

• "I'm detail-oriented."

• "I prefer a tidy space."

• "I'm very meticulous."

• "I'm a creature of habit when it comes to organizing."

• "I like everything in its place."

A Call for Mindful Language

• The power of words: By emphasizing the impact our language has on others and on how we perceive mental health, we can help nurture kindness, compassion, and inclusivity.

• Encourage empathy and accuracy: Sadly, some individuals have adopted this phrase so deeply that they will double down on using it out of pure stubbornness, rather than considering the implications of their words and choosing language that is both empathetic and accurate, especially when discussing mental health. There isn’t much that can be done about this closed mindset.

• We get to choose to cultivate a more understanding community: each of us can become more aware and choose precise language that better describes what we truly favor and find valuable in our ways of doing things.