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Why You Won’t Hear Me Say ‘I’m a Little OCD’

The way we talk about mental illness matters

Kate Warrington
Invisible Illness
Published in
6 min readAug 19, 2021

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I watch as my co-worker pushes in the chairs of our conference room so each one sits evenly against the table.

“Sorry, I’m a little OCD,” she says with a laugh.

I wonder if her words carry more weight than her casual tone reveals. Or do they regularly fall from her lips without pause? For a moment, I consider sharing my own diagnosis with her. But the words get buried under my bottom lip. I fear releasing them could give away too much.

This is just one of a dozen or more stories I could tell where a little OCD is used as an explainer of sorts — oftentimes in the form of a joke or an apology. I’m even guilty of using this expression myself. But that was before a diagnosis came.

Now as someone who knows the challenges of obsessive compulsive disorder all too well, I cringe each time I hear these words. But on the outside, I force a smile, even a laugh, as the weight of my silence becomes yet another burden to bear.

It’s not that someone can’t be a little OCD. After all, most of us experience obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors throughout our lives. Like most things, obsessive compulsive disorder exists on a spectrum. But the common use of OCD has watered down its…

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Kate Warrington
Kate Warrington

Written by Kate Warrington

Writing about mental health, sexual wellness, OCD and other musings. Follow @katewarrington on Substack and @warrington_kate on Instagram

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