"I'm so OCD" - what social media portrayals of OCD are missing

I have truly mixed emotions about the phrase “I’m so OCD.”   On one hand, I appreciate the attention that this generation is placing on mental health, and the openness with which neurodiversity, mental health, and trauma is discussed in popular discourse.  Overall, that is undoubtedly a good thing.  Young people know how to recognize a panic attack and how to support their friend with grounding exercises.  Friends, often connected on social media and messaging apps, support each other at all hours of the night through dark moments.  

However, the phrase “I’m so OCD” entering the popular lexicon has been a less positive outcome for those of us with true OCD.  The problem is that, like “I’m such a perfectionist” before it, this phrase can be used to emphasize the desirability of the condition.  

While posts showing perfectly arranged closets can cause envy in less organized onlookers, they rarely reveal the painful obsession that would be the dark underbelly of that aesthetically-pleasing product.  

Those posts don’t show the intense reactivity that a person with OCD could have to the order of that closet being disturbed by a loved one.  Similarly, they do not reveal the amount of time that is utilized (and for many of us, we believe, wasted) feeding the compulsive addiction.  

The truth is that the photo capturing the end product of the compulsion is the smoke and mirrors of social media.  We see a temporary positive moment that ignores struggles that came before and after.  

Similarly, “I’m so OCD” misses the fact that ordering/arranging/cleaning is a very small fraction of the likely compulsions that an OCD individual may face.  Even if these OCD traits are ego-syntonic (ie. pleasing both the OCD and the individual), there are likely to be many more aspects of the OCD that are ego-dystonic (ie. pleasing the OCD but displeasing the individual).  

Ordering/Arranging/Cleaning rarely presents without other compulsions, such as a checking, mental rewinding, reassurance seeking, or repeating. 

In fact, the very act of posting that photo may be a compulsive effort to receive reassurance from one’s social media friends that this closet is good enough, and the person may find themselves compulsively checking for likes and comments.  

If you suspect you may have true OCD, please reach out to Kairos Wellness Collective for support.