Think you’re ‘a bit OCD’? The truth is far more serious than a love of tidiness
17 February 2025, 09:23
Imagine a 12-year-old lying awake at night, tormented by relentless thoughts of harm coming to the people they love.
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These graphic images appear uninvited, fuelling anxiety so intense that focusing on anything else becomes impossible. Desperate to keep everyone safe, the child starts hiding everyday objects they fear could cause harm and whispering protective phrases under their breath. Over time, these rituals take over, driven by the fear that failing to do them 'just right' might invite disaster.
Many people living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) know this struggle all too well. Often beginning in childhood or adolescence, OCD affects around 1–2% of the population. It involves a cycle of unwanted, distressing intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviours or mental acts (compulsions), performed in a desperate effort to relieve immense anxiety. Compulsions can be physical (like excessive hand-washing or checking locks) or entirely internal (such as mentally replaying conversations for fear of having said something ‘wrong’).
Despite its prevalence, OCD is still widely misunderstood. Tragically, many people don’t realise they’re living with the condition, even as it consumes their life.
At OCD Action, we see how misunderstandings about OCD harm individuals and their families every day. In the UK, research shows it can take an average of seven years from when OCD starts seriously disrupting someone’s life to when they finally seek help. That’s seven years of feeling trapped—too scared to talk about terrifying thoughts, convinced there’s something fundamentally wrong with them, believing they’re ‘bad’ or broken.
Why the delay? It’s a complex issue, but one recurring theme we hear is that people don’t realise their mental torment stems from OCD because it’s so far removed from the pervasive stereotype of enjoying cleaning or wanting things to be neat and symmetrical.
Words don’t hold their meaning in a vacuum—they constantly evolve as we use them. Each time ‘OCD’ is referred to as a quirky personality trait (‘I’m sooo OCD about cleaning!’), it reinforces a misleading cultural narrative about the condition. This has real, tangible consequences for people living with OCD, creating a barrier between them and the help they need.
If OCD has been reduced to a catch-all for quirks and preferences, it only shows how much influence we have over language—and with intention, we can flip the script. This starts with everyday conversations. If you hear someone say, ‘I’m a bit OCD’, consider gently challenging it. The words we choose shape how people see themselves, and no one should spend years trapped in shame, believing their most terrifying thoughts define them. With the right evidence-based treatments, recovery from OCD is absolutely possible.
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Cara Gordon is Communications and Engagement Manager at OCD Action.
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