Saying 'I'm OCD'

[Musicocd]

It drives me mad, you can't BE obsessive compulsive disorder...it's something you have not are!

It's so stupid but whenever anyone says 'I'm OCD about this...' it sets me off and makes my ocd ten times worse. My lecturer was joking about being really organised today and she said 'I'm OCD about it' and then I couldn't stop thinking about it for the whole lecture and I didn't pay attention to anything. Also, my flatmate said the same thing a couple of weeks ago when I told her about my ocd and I'm still thinking about it now.

I've never really told people about my ocd, but I've started to now. People are understanding but I don't think they truly understand the extent to which I suffer because I hide it so well (and I probably have more mental compulsions than outward ones). I'm constantly tired from trying to ignore myself (that will make sense to those of you with ocd) but when my flatmates comment on me being tired all the time, I don't want to say it's because of my ocd because they won't understand what I mean.

I don't want to tell them not to do things because it sets me off, I don't feel I have the right to do that... I want them to know how much I suffer sometimes, but I don't want to be a burden to them.

Any help on what I could do would be much appreciated!

 

[RedRibbons]

Woo! Finally I can reply.

Hmm, I understand how it can be very frustrating, because while they take a comment like "I'm ocd" lightly, you don't think it's so funny because you actually suffer from it.

I'm trying to think of a way to say this. I don't know how gutsy you are. If you feel comfortable, you could say something like, "you mean, meticulous" or whatever word actually defines their behaviour at that moment. Or you could even just say, "You can't be ocd." And then laugh about it, like it's funny they said they were ocd.

I think the only true way to resolve this is to stand up and speak how you feel. You don't have to tell someone to stop doing something, but if they are good people, and you tell them about how you feel and what's going on, they should be considerate enough to stop making comments like "I'm OCD".

A lot of the reason why people say things like that is because they are ignorant about it, maybe you could educate them. I'm sorry if this was completely useless. I really worry about giving tips on this site.

Good luck though.