Try telling someone you have OCD, and there are some stock responses you're likely to be on the receiving end of: “Aren't we all a bit OCD?,” “I know what you mean. I just hate it when things aren't straight,” and “Can you tidy my house?” The fact is, people love to squeal that they're “sooo OCD!” about this, that and the other. They use the term to mean a funny or cute personality quirk that involves them quite liking things to be ‘just so.'
In reality, OCD is not a synonym for perfectionist, nor is it a scale for anal retentiveness upon which we all fall somewhere. It is a disorder so crippling that the World Health Organization has ranked it in the top ten most disabling illnesses.
