3. What is something a lot of people have strong opinions on while knowing little t...

What is something a lot of people have strong opinions on while knowing little to nothing about it?

Yes, this exactly!!

The problem with it is that it means getting a diagnosis can be a shock because it's not what popular opinion has led you to believe!

About two years ago I went to my GP at this insistance of my boyfriend because he thought something was up with my behaviour, I just thought I was stressed out.

I'd started getting distracted constantly by worst case scenarios related to my family - the plane my dad was taking was definitely going to crash, the cough my mum had was definitely cancer, my brother was going to fail and have to drop out of uni. (None of those happened, or were even likely, but that didn't prevent the worrying). They wouldn't leave my head, and as soon as they did another would enter like "have you considered this terrible scenario that will definitely happen also."

And I started being late for uni because I would lock my front door in the mornings, then worry I hadn't on the bus halfway there and have to go back to check. I always had locked it and I've never left a house without locking it behind me, but that logic didn't factor.

I was half expecting her to send me off with a "you're stressed, a lot on your plate, consider mindfulness or herbal teas." type response, because I was stressed out and it seemed to me the probable cause.

Instead she explained that what I had told her sounded like OCD, and I must have looked confused because she then explained that tidy houses and washing your hands 600 times aren't universal representations of OCD, and I was exhibiting intrusive thoughts which are far more common than people generally realise. Until then I'd just assumed OCD was for neat freaks.

She then went through asking me questions about things I did when I was younger and it turned out I'd been showing a pattern of OCD behaviours from a young age, and if I'd known they were then I could have sought help sooner instead of putting up with things because I just assumed I was a distracted/stressed/safety conscious person.

So yeah, OCD misconceptions can stop people seeking help because they don't even know what they have is classed as anything!

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