What are some common/uncommon misconceptions about OCD and OCD recovery that you wished more people knew about?

that Pure O exists & is a huge part of OCD. It’s completely neglected in the media

Personally, I just wish the ways in which OCD manifests were more widely known. Both by professionals and the public at large. Many people suffer for some time without knowing what’s happening to them. For recovery, I wish that people knew that it isn’t supposed to feel good. Not at first, especially. It’s going to feel terrible. If we’re waiting to feel comfortable or good to begin exposure therapy, we’re going to wait a long time. Also, the goal isn’t to get rid of the thoughts. You can’t do that. In fact, it’s counterproductive to recovery. Nor is it to disprove or prove your thoughts true. It’s to become adept at experiencing the emotions, sensations, and urges OCD gives you, but living a full life anyway. Success in recovery also mostly depends on you. Not your therapist. It’s going to be you putting in the work when no one is making you. Or mustering the resilience and courage to press on when you don’t think you can. You have to want to beat OCD more than you fear what might happen.

It’s more than just the compulsions. Media will show us flicking light switches and such but not go into the obsessions

I wish people knew more about ERP. I hear many people say they’re scared to start it because they think it means they’ll have to accept all of their fears and obsessions as true and “become” what they fear. That doesn’t happen. You accept just a little bit of doubt. You make room for “maybe” and stop seeking 100% certainty. It trains you to tolerate distress in the face of your fears, and to allow for uncertainty, but not to accept your fears as necessarily true. I think people fear that it will change them fundamentally as a person, when in reality it just changes your relationship to your thoughts.

I grew up with relatives with noticeable compulsions: hand washing, praying, checking locks. It didn’t occur to me until I was in my early twenties that it occurred to me that that my decade’s worth of mental checking about existential issues (“Do I ‘feel’ like I believe in God?” “Do I ‘feel’ like other people exist?”) could be at all related to what my family members were going through.