OCD… OBSESSIVELY COOL DISORDER

The NUS have recently come out and said that 20% of students have some sort of mental health disorder. And a massive 92% have identified as suffering at some point during their uni career.

Sussex can be proud to boast a strong support network, and apparently the rabbits we see around campus were bought in during the 60’s as a measure to decrease Sussex’s unusually high suicide rates.

However, the improved discussions over depression, anxiety, and suicide is clouded by a mental illness that is becoming popular… OCD.

Did you know that Charles Darwin, Jessica Alba, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, MJ, Ludwig Van Beethoven (the composer, not the dog), Albert Einstein, David Beckham & Winston Churchill have/had OCD…

I don’t have OCD, or know anyone who has it. But I have watched Monk and The Aviator, so I’m pretty much an expert. What I have seen is skinny-jean, vintage-boot, beanie-in-summer wearing bellends, with no medical knowledge whatsoever, diagnosing others as chronic sufferers of this mental condition because they clean their room.

Of all illnesses and diseases OCD is thrown about the most, and its probably the most popular to have. No-one wants chlamydia, irritable bowel syndrome or autism, but if you carry hand sanitizer you’re a quirky sufferer of obsessive compulsive disorder.

This cultural phenomenon is inspired by the type of person that puts their snapbacks in order of cost and claims ‘it’s just sooo OCD of them’. Being tidy doesn’t mean you have OCD. Being irritated by someone rearranging your books doesn’t mean you have OCD. Not wanting to rub your face in shit does not mean you have OCD.

In the same way that our generation throws around the words like ‘nutter’, ‘retard’ & ‘mental’, we undermine OCD by generalising it. Although it’s a good thing that the stigma of mental health is being eroded, and we can talk about it more openly, its a bad thing by sabotaging its seriousness.

This was just an issue I wanted to clear up…