What's the name of the thing people call OCD but isn't?

December 10, 2016 12:20 PM

Go to any clickbait site and you'll find articles called "21 things that will annoy people with OCD". It will be full of pictures of tiled floors with one tile breaking the pattern, or carefully sorted objects with one in the wrong place. My understanding is that this can be a part of OCD, but isn't itself OCD. So what is it called?
posted by Muppet Pastor to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

Anal retentive? Neat freak?
posted by blackzinfandel at 12:25 PM on December 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Perfectionism or a preoccupation with orderliness.
posted by lazuli at 12:26 PM on December 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

OCD focusing on symmetry or exactness.
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:30 PM on December 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

It's called Obessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, which is why people frequently confuse or conflate it with OCD.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:30 PM on December 10, 2016

It's called Obessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, which is why people frequently confuse or conflate it with OCD.

It can be part of OCPD, but there are other diagnostic criteria that would need to be met, and OCPD wouldn't necessarily always manifest in that way.
posted by lazuli at 12:32 PM on December 10, 2016 [7 favorites]

I think "obsession with symmetry" might be the most neutral term for what you're describing. That obsession could be a symptom of OCD or OCPD (if a bunch of diagnostic criteria are met), or a symptom of some other condition (if a different bunch of diagnostic criteria are met), or it could just be a personal quirk that doesn't lead to any diagnosis.
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:54 PM on December 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

I call it "offending my sense of order." Things like that bother me a lot, but I don't have OCD.
posted by Aquifer at 1:11 PM on December 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Depending on how inconvenient/egregious the "flaw" in the tiles etc. are, I'd go for somewhere between "meticulous" and "petty".
posted by A Robot Ninja at 1:48 PM on December 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Knolling?
posted by ocherdraco at 2:14 PM on December 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

(Or, rather, the desire is for knolling, but those images defeat that desire.)
posted by ocherdraco at 2:15 PM on December 10, 2016

Me eight years ago. I could only handle defined patterns and move about them carefully without stepping on cracks (which meant I walked with the Monty Python silly walk if the tiles didn't fit my stride.). I could also handle very random or cracked sidewalks.

So, a little CBT and immersion therapy and yeah. I can hang 90% of the time.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:15 PM on December 10, 2016

Perfectionism, or even obsessive ... but it's not ocD unless it's reached the point of a mental health disorder, that is, actively interfering with your life and sense of well being. Not every quirk is a disorder... and the disorder is not the quirk.
posted by flourpot at 3:52 PM on December 10, 2016 [11 favorites]

I have both OCD and the it-has-to-be-exactly-like-this tendency about certain things, and in my case they're completely unrelated. (The former is kind of scary, the latter just pisses me off when things aren't right.)

I don't know if there's a commonly accepted name for it in English; anal-retentive is close but seems outdated. There's a Finnish word for it that literally translates to "comma fucker."
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:27 PM on December 10, 2016 [13 favorites]

I would suggest "being peculiar or particular" as the actual situation here.

Using the name of a disabling disorder to describe a personality quirk or a preference is inappropriate and unkind to those who have to live with Actually Diagnosed by a Professional Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. And I get it, most people aren't trying to be cruel, but OCD is an actual thing that can be devastating to those who have it and those who love those people.
posted by heathergirl at 7:51 PM on December 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Years ago I had a student who had problems getting to class on time because he seemed to take a lot of time to get his belongings in his backpack. That's all I observed. No big deal to me. Then a psychologist came to talk to his teachers about his problem, his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Briefly, this young man thought that something truly terrible--we did not need to be informed of what, exactly--would happen if he didn't do everything just so. In short, I had been one of those people who threw the word OCD around casually; now I was deeply moved, even shaken, by the extent of this kid's suffering.

Just to reinforce what's been said above. (By the way, he got better, but his life's path was not easy.)
posted by kozad at 9:17 PM on December 10, 2016 [3 favorites]