What exactly is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and how is it different from pop culture representations of it?
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Pop culture plays up the “neat freak” symptom where things must be in a certain way. The reality is far more crippling, often resulting in an inability to function or make basic decisions due to the obsession of making sure everything must be right.
In the past I’ve worked with a YouTube hopeful who was diagnosed with OCD. Unfortunately, his OCD manifests in the constant need for validation for every single thing he does on his channel. His pattern of behaviour was as follows:
* He wants to make a video on one of two very specific video games.
* He wants to make jokes in the video because other gaming channels are funny
* He becomes paranoid over whether it’s appropriate to make jokes and what kind of jokes are appropriate
* He posts on every relevant subreddit asking if he is allowed to make jokes
* He gets told it’s fine from every single subreddit
* He goes through the same loop a week later
* He gets banned
* He makes an alt account and repeats
And that’s just the visible side of it to us – I’m pretty sure he has the same conversations with counsellors, therapists, etc. The point is the pattern of behaviour: he is *unable* to break the loop of doubt and is “programmed” to seek validation before he takes action, but then he doubts this validation and seeks more validation.
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