People with OCD -Are you offended by jokes about OCD?

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I have never been diagnosed with OCD, and don't need to be now, but there were times in my life when I became exceedingly ritualistic to the point where it interfered with my life.

But OCD seems to be cool. My friends are always posting jokes about it on Facebook. In these memes, OCD is when a person is being a little bit particular about how tidy things are.

Does anybody feel offended by these jokes? I'm still trying to figure out if I am.

The professionals diagnosed me with OCD. I don't find these jokes offensive. It's just people ragging on themselves usually. Sometimes, it's less of a joke and more of a quick way to say that someone's going a bit too far with their neatness/organization/germ phobia/whatever.

Yeah, I hate when people say "I'm so OCD about this." They have no idea what it's like to actually have OCD. Everybody has their little quirks when it comes to organization, and it sounds like they're trivializing OCD by downplaying its severity.

Hello. I posted on the other section for this post, so check there for the whole details.

Summary: I am offended by these jokes because I don't want stigma or stereotypes going around for a mental illness, and people who don't have OCD don't get how OCD affects others' lives.

It kind of bugs me because people don't know what OCD really is. They think it's all compulsive tidiness and making sure their foods don't touch. They don't understand how I can be OCD when my room and my life are constantly in disarray. They don't understand how I avoid it because when I DO start cleaning it devolves into me crying into a pile of tangled necklaces. They don't understand how I avoid doing schoolwork, or conversely, nearly complete a project and then never turn it in because it's never perfect. They don't understand counting steps or beats in your head and becoming agitated when they don't land on an even number. They don't understand invasive and unwanted thoughts. They don't understand that I've had to re-read this post thirty times before deciding to submit it.

That's true, Taygeta. They usually have no clue, and admittedly, I don't usually enlighten them. Especially if they're just ragging on their own quirks. I don't know what the answer is though, because sometimes it helps to joke about disorders. I often feel that I can either laugh or cry.

I think it's annoying, and definitely don't find it 'cute' or funny, but I'm not really offended by it.

I have OCD and most jokes I read on Facebook about OCD make me laugh!

Don't have OCD myself.

I watched an advertisement, for a major airline company, where the speaker was an engineer, and said something along the lines of, "I'm a perfectionist. Some would say I have OCD." And I thought that was probably inappropriate.

They don't offend me, but I get annoyed because people don't really understand what OCD is. It takes so many forms. When most people think of OCD, they are actually thinking about OCPD which is a personality disorder. I don't try to correct them as I'm frankly embarrassed and ashamed of my OCD. and they probably don't want to hear about it.

Smething to keep in mind: people will sometimes try to minimize their own affliction by saying "I'm a bit OCD." This doesn't mean they have a little OCD. They could be hiding their more severe pathology. I've done similar things. Nobody would know the kinds of suffering I have dealt with if I hadn't told them. And OCD is largely hidden. Its not always revealed by obvious symptoms like compulsive cleaning. Sometimes its the mentally ill stigmatizing the mentally ill. Sometimes it turns into a contest of who has it worst.

I have OCD & I make jokes about it myself. I use humor as a way to not feel as bad & to be funny & make others laugh.

It's not so much that I'm offended, because I know people normally don't know what it is. I'm curious as to how it began to be a thing to call yourself OCD if you're a perfectionist or don't like dirty dishes lying around. I think it's become "normal" in society to be laid back and a little lazy, so everyone who isn't is "OCD."

For me, it got so bad that I would break down in tears, because I just wanted to sleep, or not "weird people out," or let go of impulsive thoughts, or stop wringing my hands, or clearing my throat for no reason, or obsessively checking to make sure the oven (which I hadn't even used) was turned off. I'd cover EVERY LED clock in my house because I obsessed over checking them and saying the time aloud. I told people they were covered because of the light--because I didn't want them to think I was insane. Well, they did anyway. "It's... in your kitchen though."

OCD, for me, was the inability to proceed through my day without doing seemingly meaningless (to other people) tasks, and hearing my lazy friends talk about how emptying their dishwasher once the dishes are clean... before work... is OCD. No. No, it's not. Counting the flowers on each dish, having to arrange them "just so" and then getting very, very upset when someone tries to stop me.... that's OCD.

Yes it bothers me a lot mostly because if they knew how ocd feels they would not be making comments like that. I personally don't think it is my place to correct them but they do need to understand a little more. I bet they don't even think about it just because it is part of the culture but it does not have to be so I would rather them not but I don't usually intervene (anymore).

I feel like there's nothing wrong with what the memes are saying, usually, but using the terminology "OCD" to refer to the natural desire to be clean and organized is rather trivializing to people who actually have the anxiety disorder, or the personality disorder in my case, and makes it very easy to dismiss our problems. It also spreads misinformation about OCD in general and what the disorder actually entails.

They don't really offend me, but I wish they would use a different term.