When I lay in bed at night, my brain felt like an overrun engine, thoughts loud and sticky for hours. These weren’t just worries, they were intrusive, unwanted thoughts that felt opposing to who I was. I convinced myself this was normal, but deep down I felt lost.
For years, like many people, I thought obsessive-compulsive disorder meant wanting to be “really clean and organized” because I constantly heard people use “I’m so OCD” as a description. My own cluttered room proved how far I felt from that stereotype. Through therapy and a diagnosis, I learned the true, complex nature of the disorder. With the conclusion of OCD Awareness Month in October, we must stop trivializing this condition and recognize that inaccurate language is harmful and prevents people from seeking help.
The International OCD Foundation defines OCD as a mental disorder that impacts people of all ages and backgrounds. While the exact cause is unknown, it’s believed to be a complex interplay of genetic, neurological and environmental factors. Globally, roughly 240 million people live with the condition. In the U.S., an estimated 1.2% of adults had OCD in the past year; prevalence was higher for females (1.8%) than for males (0.5%), according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Most importantly, OCD relies on obsessions (intrusive, unwanted thoughts) and compulsions (an irresistible urge) to calm or try to resolve the resulting anxiety. Although the anxiety may feel resolved for a short amount of time, OCD quickly returns to this cycle for minutes, hours or even days. There is a constant “checking” behavior, but it doesn’t always have to be visible. Once I was diagnosed, I had a difficult time understanding obsessions and compulsions because this routine just felt so normal throughout my life.
The most pervasive misconception is that compulsions must be visible, like excessive handwashing. In reality, a significant number of cases involve “non-visible OCD,” sometimes misleadingly called “Pure O.” This form describes cases where the obsessions and compulsions occur primarily in the mind, making the disorder difficult to detect externally, as discussed by the Child Mind Institute.
Individuals can experience intense, intrusive thoughts that are ego-dystonic, meaning they directly contradict the person’s true values and morals. These obsessions can include fears of accidentally harming others, unwanted sexual or pedophilic images or extreme religious and moral doubt.
To neutralize the extreme anxiety caused by these obsessions, the individual engages in mental rituals. These compulsions include excessive rumination (over-analyzing thoughts), constantly reviewing past events for “proof” of intent or seeking internal reassurance. This constant mental cycle is just as debilitating as physical rituals, consuming hours of a person’s life and causing distress.
The misconception that people with OCD can simply “snap out of it” or “just relax” ignores the condition’s neurobiological basis. The anxiety is overwhelming, not a simple lack of willpower. Fortunately, research confirms OCD is highly treatable, primarily through a specialized form of cognitive behavioral therapy known as Exposure and Response Prevention.
Trivializing OCD as an adjective causes harm and it minimizes the daily suffering of millions and leads to individuals believing their invisible struggle “isn’t bad enough” to seek help. When people joke about wishing they had “clean-freak OCD,” they dismiss the very real daily suffering and the heavy financial burden placed on those struggling to function. At times this stereotype got into my head. I would wish I had visible OCD because at least people would visibly understand. It just made me feel like what I was feeling wasn’t valid because it was so indescribable.
This normalization forces us into a harmful “mental health olympics” game, where disorders become competitive, as if one is worse or better than the other. We must reject this comparison and commit to understanding and educating ourselves on the complex, varied impact this disorder has on a person.
The anxiety of OCD is not a choice, but the treatment is effective. Exposure and Response Prevention is the gold standard for treatment, systematically guiding patients to face their fears (exposure) and resist the urge to perform the compulsion (response prevention). I have been doing ERP for almost a year now and have been medicated with an SSRI, Zoloft and have felt myself grow for the better. My mind has felt more quiet and I have become more aware of differentiating thoughts from intrusive thoughts.
This process physically rewires the brain over time, breaking the OCD cycle. For me, it is always a work in progress because it is truly a marathon, not a sprint. Yet, the lack of serious recognition is directly tied to the difficulty in securing insurance coverage for necessary, evidence-based therapies like ERP, which often requires specialized therapists and substantial out-of-pocket costs. However, there are many accessible resources through the International OCD Foundation.
We need to be aware beyond the misuse of language and advocate for affordable, accessible healthcare towards mental health therapies. Talk to your family, your loved ones, your friends on how they can educate themselves and show support. If you have ever felt this way, just know you are never alone. Listen to yourself, not the stereotypes.
Lauren Schmit is a senior journalism major at Columbia College.
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
