OCD is not just cleaning!

But I thought OCD Was Just About Cleaning?

“Sorry, I’m OCD about x,y or z”… it’s a phrase we often hear. Generally, people have at least heard of OCD, which in theory is a good thing. Yet, this growing awareness of OCD is still seemingly detrimental to Pure OCD sufferers. Why? The public has gone from being uninformed to misinformed. I can’t stress enough, OCD generally is not about cleaning. For Pure OCD people, it’s not about cleaning at all. Ironically, Pure OCD sufferers are often bogged down in weighty depression and viscous anxiety; therefore, waking up at the crack-of-dawn to maintain an immaculate home rarely feels like a priority.

Contrary to my experience of other social justice movements, I find the OCD community has  sharp, self-deprecating humour. Even so, if you’re experiencing extreme Pure OCD for years, yet your needs are ignored because your OCD “can’t be that bad, after all, you didn’t iron your jeans this morning”, it’s difficult to see the funny side.

Error I: Confusing the obsession with the compulsion

Firstly, even if someone is perpetually scrubbing the floors and walls until their hands bleed, they’re probably still not obsessed with cleaning! They are probably obsessed by the fear of contamination – it’s a subtle but important distinction. Their compulsion is to, therefore, neutralise this perceived risk of contamination. The sufferer may then conclude the most effective way to achieve this goal is to endlessly clean – it’s not a never-ending passion for cleaning in-and-of-itself.

 Error II: Assuming all OCD manifestations are the same

Don’t get me wrong, cleaning is one of the more common compulsions that can manifest itself in the lives of OCD sufferers. I’m definitely not saying compulsively cleaning isn’t awful. There’s no set of manifestations that are outright worse than others. OCD themes prey on the subjective fears of the individual which remain hellish in nature. There’s no objective barometer of personal terror. It’s the severity of the compulsion that dictates how horrible the OCD is, not what the manifestation is-in-of-itself.

It wasn’t until therapy that I realised the breadth and depth of potential OCD themes. There are practically endless potential manifestations, some more common than others, in which OCD can appear. Thinking Pure OCD has limits, is to think the devil lacks creativity. I was a Pure OCD suffer for many years and still didn’t know the variety of possible OCD themes; therefore, I can’t blame a misinformed general public for not knowing! So yes, cleaning is definitely a major categorisation of OCD. However, ‘major categorisation’ doesn’t equate to ‘the majority of OCD sufferers are compulsive cleaners’ – far from it! There are hundreds of other OCD categorisations worthy of consideration too!

Error III: Not understanding the difference between Pure OCD and OCD

To conflate religious-level-cleaning with OCD not only ignores other themes of OCD as mentioned, but unwittingly dismisses Pure-OCD entirely! Pure OCD sufferers, who don’t have any outward compulsions by definition, let alone ones about specifically cleaning, are held back from discovering they do, in fact, have a form of (often very severe) OCD.

This can be incredibly confusing for Pure OCD sufferers; because, in the vast majority of their themes, their mental compulsions aren’t related to cleaning at all, even in a purely cerebral arena where their compulsions take place.

Therefore, it’s so hard for Pure OCD sufferers to initially relate to other self-realised OCD people who compulsively clean. It’s a travesty that OCD ‘cleaners’ and Pure OCD sufferers often complete miss an opportunity for dialogue. Although their compulsions are different in theme and manifestation, the mechanisms around their obsessions are the same; therefore, deserve to talk to one another.

Pure OCD, Intrusive Thoughts and Stigma

There’s a final hidden reason why assuming OCD centres around cleaning is so detrimental to Pure OCD sufferers. As mentioned, I don’t doubt compulsively cleaning is tortuous. However, it’s relatively straightforward to talk about, for two reasons. Firstly, as with most forms of ‘regular’ OCD, the compulsions are usually bloody obvious to those close to the sufferer. An obsessive cleaner, is by definition, going to be spending A LOT of time cleaning – it’s right there in plain sight.

Secondly, although compulsive cleaning is not “normal” behaviour, general day-to-day housework and/or grooming very much is normal. Therefore, opening up about compulsive cleaning is not quite so challenging, because it can seem on some level relatable to one’s confidant.

To elaborate, imagine being in a group therapy session. Which person would you rather be? The lady holding up her hand saying: “I compulsively clean, sometimes I scrub the walls all night”. Or, the Pure OCD sufferer next admitting: “All week I’ve been trying to remember if I actually wanted to slit my Grandma’s throat when I dropped off that card last Wednesday”. The only thing that the latter was in danger of killing was the conversation; yet,  the stigma is so much greater.

Mental health campaigns urging people to talk about their feelings is all well and good. However, when OCD is portrayed as something only compulsive cleaners suffer from, it’s very hard for little Jimmy to pick up the phone and say: “Hey, I can’t stop worrying that I might grow up to become a serial rapist, do I have OCD too?”

Although I strongly advocate that Pure OCD and ‘regular’ OCD are different (contrary to some ignorant professionals), they still need to be talked about in the same conversation, as treatment is conducted through the same means (pharmaceuticals, behavioural therapy, psychotherapy, meditation etc). For anyone new to the notion of Pure OCD as a separate mental illness, this article may help to understand the distinction.