What exactly is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and how is it different from pop culture representations of it?
In: 11
Not a shrink, scientist, or particularly smart man, but maybe one would agree that OCD emanates from a misconfiguration so deep that you can’t really tie it sensible or even normal behaviors or concerns. OCD is not being a neat freak; it’s washing your hands til they bleed while living in a filthy house. OCD is not liking to make sure you locked the door; it’s having the breath sucked out of your lungs until you can get your hand on that door knob one more time. It’s not being careful about where you step; it’s about the fear of hell seizing you where you stand and somehow being tied to the placement of your foot with respect to this sidewalk tile the moment that car passes by.
In other words, pop culture’s representations of OCD have nothing to do with OCD, because watching someone in the grips of an attack is about as entertaining as watching a lab rat groom itself until its hair falls out. It’s not quirky, and it’s not cute. It’s sweaty, shaking fear and confusion that only gets in the way and only hinders a person’s relationship with everyone else.
OCD is so deep that it comes not from the abstract tapestry of social norms and concerns that we have a clear vocabulary about, but from a glitch deep in the lizard brain that tells us not to touch a hot thing or jump from a high place. It fuses your very instincts to survive with absurd and trivial actions.
Edit: I just reread this and remembered where I was. Maybe edit it a bit before explaining this to an actual five year old lol
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