I get triggered when people discuss how it frustrates them to hear someone say, “That’s sooo OCD.” Then they talk about how OCD is real suffering, and these people don’t know what real suffering is. Another time, a friend asked, “Have you ever struggled with depression?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “You’d know if you had.” It makes me feel like suffering is a competition. And that I have to rank a certain percentage in suffering before I’m allowed to express my pain or ask for help or practice self compassion. Maybe nothing is wrong with me. “Suck it up, buttercup.” And all that.

Username: NickerinoNickerino

Date posted: 4y ago

I think there's a lot of truth to what you're saying, in that people often turn suffering into a competition, and it's really sad to see. But when people criticize the people who say "I'm so OCD", it's not because we think they're not really suffering. It's because we feel that they're trivializing a serious illness. As an example, if someone tells me they're depressed, I should take their word for it and I should not challenge them with a stupid statement like "you don't know what real depression is because you haven't experienced a, b and c" On the other hand, if they tell me they're depressed and I tell them "yeah I went to a Starbucks today, and they didn't have any vanilla syrup to put in my latte, so I know what you mean" then I'm being an absolute asshat and need to stfu. That's what people who say "I'm so OCD" are doing. They're trivializing our real suffering. It's not a competition, it's about having someone recognize your suffering for what it really is.

Username: AlyoshaAlyosha

Date posted: 4y ago

Thanks! I took the name from him. Love Dostoevsky. Has that ever happened to you? Where someone trivialized your suffering because they misused the label? I’ve had the opposite experience—someone trivializing my suffering because I *lacked* a label, or because (in their eyes) I didn’t hurt as badly as they did and so didn’t need care. Anyway. It’s just triggering. I have that in the back of my mind do often: “You don’t have problems. Get over yourself. You’re just looking for excuses to be a bad person.”

Username: NickerinoNickerino

Date posted: 4y ago

I haven't had that happen to me, but it's a really terrible thing to do to someone. It's basically applying a "gatekeeper" attitude with mental illness which can make it more difficult for people with mental illnesses to speak up when they're suffering, and in reality the people who are using the wrong labels are far and few.

Username: AlyoshaAlyosha

Date posted: 4y ago

@NickC Thanks. Well, I’ll admit, the person who puts me down like that the most often is myself. So. I should work on that. I asked my therapist so many times “Is it ok for me to be here? Do I need to just get over myself?” He told me to stop asking him.

Username: Ben84Ben84

Date posted: 4y ago

While it would be best if people didn't misuse medical terms, I see what you mean about suffering being like a competition oftentimes.

Username: NickerinoNickerino

Date posted: 4y ago

Also, I love your name. Reminds me of Brothers Karamazov.

Username: Ella1701

Date posted: 4y ago

Am I the only person who feels as tho OCD is like one of the topics you don’t speak of like when your around people who genuinely do not understand or suffer with OCD you can’t mention it.I also suffer with anxiety and although when people are around me enough they can notice behaviour I feel as tho I’d be highly judged for it.Like I shouldn’t feel the way I do because it makes me seem insane to people who can not understand it.No one around me ever truly understands its.

Username: Strawberree

Date posted: 3y ago

I'm looking for some comfort. I'm having a hard time at work this morning unfortunately, because I mistakenly mentioned my OCD to a coworker who is completely ignorant to anything anxiety related. He replied, "I dont like labels, you just have tendencies" he seemed to scoff at the idea of needing a therapist. I was reminded of how fragile i am, because I got so angry at the thought of all the internal suffering and torment i went through because of ocd, and that some people have no clue just how severe it can be.. And to think someone completely ignorant to it thinks they know what I went through when they dont even have an inkling..I'm hoping someone here will reply and remind me there are people who get it. It's not a joke, it's not exclusive to keeping things orderly, it's not something you can just get over

Username: Anonymous2602

Date posted: 1y ago

Am I the only one who…

Feels like “what if I’m not suffering enough to have OCD” which makes me feel terrible because my anxiety has slowed down after finding out what OCD was and that’s why I’m having these thoughts.

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