S/o Am I normal or OCD about raw meat/chicken?

amother

Clover

Thu, Apr 20 2023, 4:35 pm

I know someone who developed mad cow disease from eating meat that was served partially raw.
This is a debilitating condition. After a few years of intense suffering the person passed away.
Most people don’t have that in mind when they are talking about eating raw meat. They just don’t want to feel temporary sick.

amother

Stoneblue

Thu, Apr 20 2023, 4:41 pm

mzybas wrote:

Why do we use mh illnesses when we talk about our behaviours? Is it not enough to ask wether most people do this or is it OTT? Not being snowflakey or anything just wondering what is it about these terms that means we talk about our behaviour using terms of illness?

All of us have some mental health issues. Some of us have mental health disorders large enough to be clinically diagnosable, some of us just have small amounts of anxiety depression OCD etc

LittleDucky

Thu, Apr 20 2023, 6:16 pm

Because most MH issues are really on a large scale. We all have it to some degree, the question really becomes if it is severe enough to be diagnosable (often due to negative impact on life or others).
To explain- we all have some anxiety or we would never be nervous about anything. Why get up in the morning if we have zero concerns about family members, work, paying bills... some anxiety is healthy as it gets us to live our life and be productive. Why look both ways when I cross the street? Wear a seatbelt?
But when it stops us from living our life- it's a problem. Now, what about everything in between? How do we know when maybe we should seek help? We ask. But we need a frame of reference and use an extreme (ie the diagnosis) to explain. Because what we are really asking is "where am I on the scale of OCD/anxiety? Is this an issue?"

amother

Lightgreen

Thu, Apr 20 2023, 6:46 pm

You're right; it's inconsiderate and trivializes those who really suffer from these disorders. No one would think (I hope!) of saying "I think I have a touch of cerebral palsy" if they felt clumsy, or "I must be mildly epileptic" if they fell.

In any case, OCD isn't about being overly persnickety about cleanliness or order, although some people with OCD give that impression because they have to have things just so. It's not about being clean or neat, but about anxiety. There's a nameless dread of what may happen if certain things are not just so, but there are usually ritual behaviors, such as touching objects in a certain sequence or a certain number of times, and it's usually repetitive. They may do something twenty or thirty times before they can move on, and a little while later they have to do it all over again. Intellectually they may know that nothing will happen if they skip the ritual or if objects are not lined up in a certain way or what have you, but their insides disagree.

mzybas

Thu, Apr 20 2023, 7:00 pm

amother Lightgreen wrote:

Maskim maskim!!
Living with OCD is so so difficult. It is relentless, its not about when things annoy someone or a preference. Its about believimg that a catastrophe will happen unless an often completely random ritual is performed. Eg. If I don't take an even amount of steps when walking somewhere, someone I love will die. Its exhausting, relentless, and very miserable.
Personally I feel that when we use these terms to describle slightly above average careful behaviours we kind of negate the complete overwhelm a true disorder causes.
Worrying about a lump on your body is normal, checking your body every time you shower, above average concern, checking your pulse multiple times an hour, more likely to indicate health anxiety.