people without ocd
WHY is it so hard to explain ocd to someone without it? it’s like they see it as a joke/exaggeration and it’s just exhausting. people act like ocd is just organization or cleaning or whatever. while ocd can affect that it’s SO much more than that. idk
People that don't have it, have no idea how hard it is to live with
Something that's made it easy for me to explain it to others is by sending them informational videos about it to them. Plus then it can explain the severity of it without stressing you out
I know! It’s so hard. I feel like people don’t take it seriously; and don’t realize nearly the extent of how hard it can be; and how much it can affect their life (someone with OCD). I say: we just gotta tell ourselves “just because someone doesn’t think it’s real doesn’t mean it’s not real.” What we are experiencing is real and difficult, and at times it can be painful. They may not have the full information on it; and don’t see what it’s like (i.e. don’t experience the pain we do), and have no exposure to it, so they find it hard to believe that it can be that bad. They can choose to seek to understand more, or be nice about it even if they don’t understand, but some people are unempathetic. I guess we can make ourselves feel better by telling ourselves “they are being mean.”
@Fellow OCD peer YES and the thing is (which happened to me), since so many people spread misinformation about it, people who actually have it may get confused and not know that they actually have it if that makes sense
But the good thing is we know now that we are allowed to feel the way we do; and we know that it’s hard; and we validate each other. Now the thing is to just keep reminding each other (here in the community) that our feelings are valid, any time someone tries to knock what we say/how we feel.
Thanks so much for saying that. It’s so validating for someone to say that. Because I find that it’s true. Other people will minimize what we are feeling. And if I were to guess why they are saying that, I would venture to say that they haven’t seen the symptoms the way we do, haven’t experienced it; the real roughness and hard parts about it. They are being un empathetic. We can tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better “they are being not nice.” They can choose to seek to understand more or give a nice response, even if they don’t understand. Our feelings are real, though. Just because they are choosing not validate our feelings and trying to minimize them, it doesn’t make our experience less real. What we are going through is real; and it’s valid; and it’s very hard. They are choosing to be un empathetic. Because they are choosing to be un empathic, that means our experience is not real? No. Our experience is 100% real; as real as it was before they said what they said. It is hard when people are un empathetic. They are being not nice. It doesn’t make our pain any less real, though. They are being un empathetic. They can choose to be nice. They are choosing to be not nice.
So glad we can both agree on it, know what each other is talking about and agree that OCD is so hard. 😊 That definitely makes sense. Oh wow! That can make things that are hard even harder.
As someone who doesn't have OCD, my wake-up call came when I witnessed one of my son's anxiety episodes and saw how much he suffered. For someone without OCD, it's difficult to understand how a thought, just a thought can cause a person to tremble and shake physically—something that might seem trivial or silly to us. I genuinely empathize with those who experience this.
People on tik Tok rly saying OCD is a blessing for some people ??? and people are like “I have ocd and this joke doesn’t offend me” or “you’re all making a big deal out of nothing” like people don’t understand ocd in the slightest I’m so tired. If they heard ocd for some is the fear of being a pedophile, or stabbing ppl with knives, or any taboo subject at all maybe they’d think differently. But knowing these types of people if they actually heard what ocd really entails they’d probably be judgmental. Because people are jerks.
Does anyone else deal with having friends who don’t really understand the severity of ocd. Like for example I can explain something I do because of ocd and they’ll be like oh omg same. And it’s like no not the same lol.
I’ve tried to be really open about having OCD, but I often hear back “I’m really ocd too” or “everyone’s a little ocd” or “that makes sense because you’re so organized”- just comments that show they don’t really understand the disorder, or that they think I’m referring to a personality trait. I was wondering, how do you guys react to this or deal with these situations? And how does it make you feel? I try not not get frustrated, because OCD is not commonly well understood or spoken about. Still, sometimes I’d like it if people would process the severity and know I’m not saying I’m a neat freak.
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