Signs It’s OCD, NOT Perfectionism

Many who are unfamiliar with the disorder often associate it with purely ‘perfectionism’. Some individuals may even think they’re “so ‘OCD’” due to perfectionist traits, which can be harmful to those who actually suffer from OCD. To raise awareness on this issue, here's the difference.

Writer: Michal Mitchell
Script Editor & Manager: Kelly Soong
VO: Amanda Silvera
Animator: Rosaline (new animator)
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

[Psychgo]

Hi everyone! We're on a mission to build out a community for creatives and artists to advocate for mental health through animated videos. If you would like to support our work, that would mean so much to us and for the community! We're hiring new paid writers, editors, and 2D animators and story boarders.

[marypearl]

OCD awareness is so important! Everyone who is struggling you are not alone. I love you all and we will beat this illness!

[agentpapayatree]

As someone who has OCD, this is how i explain the difference to people:
Perfectionism: oh no, my room isn't clean!I need to clean it
OCD: I accidentally skipped a stair while walking down the stairs, i now MUST skip every second stair while walking down even if i am carrying a bunch of dishes.

[rest]

As a person who’s been struggling with OCD for 2+ years. I’m so glad Pysch2Go is bringing more light to OCD, as it’s really a very misunderstood mental illness.

[wittycreativehandle]

As somebody with OCD, this reflects on how we actually think perfectly. OCD is one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses, and each time I see that you made a new video, I'm so happy somebody is bringing light onto these things and helping others know what we go through. I love your channel so much, and would like to let you know that you make the world a safer place for all of us. Thank you.
<3

[graceccano]

People with OCD do the things they do (compulsions) because they feel like they need to do them. There's urgency and it's something very distressing. People who like to keep everything in order enjoy doing that and it doesn't interfere with their normal lives. OCD is a very debilitating disorder and Psych2go explained it very well with this video. Thank you, Psych2go 💚💙

[iloveallred-headedcharacte]

I absolutely agree with you! Thanks for spreading awareness, especially because the phrase OCD is thrown around way too often

[cassie]

I have a question, if OCD and perfection is not the same, can it form into OCD? What causes perfection? Is it the thought that things are out of order?

[TheMediumChannel]

I've never been a "perfectionist" but have had OCD tendencies most of my life. But I overcame it through spiritual work. I learned meditation, how to be present in the moment which taught me how to observe my behavior rather than blindly following in the patterns and from there change can happen. through shadow work integration and reprogramming techniques I've pretty much changed my patterns and cured it

[Magda]

OMG JUST IN TIME!!! Many people have been telling me i have OCD without even being diagnosed with it and it REAALLY annoys me!!!

[potatoechip]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS WITH SOMEONE WITH OCD I HATE WHEN PEOPLE SAY IM SO OCD AND IT JUST MAKES ME FEEL LIKE MY DISORDER IS NOT SEROUS BUT IT IS AND PEOPLE WHO SUFFER FROM IT YOUR NOT ALONE ❤

[ISwearIamNormal]

I have known for a while that I had OCD but I didn't know that I was also a perfectionist. This was so interesting and I love your content.

[thewea]

'Progress not perfection ...
You can't be perfect everything. But you can gain process on a daily basis'
-Court McGee

[khalilahd.]

It’s pretty crazy who a lot of people don’t understand the huge difference between these two traits. Thank you for bringing awareness to this. I wish everyone dealing with this gets the help they need 🙏🏽💜

[temz]

thank you so so much for making this video!! As someone who struggles with OCD (I’ve been diagnosed) I constantly hear people call perfectionists “ocd” and it’s just so wrong to do that. awareness is so important!! the intrusive thoughts have got to be the worst part of it, most times I can’t even pick up a pencil without my brain telling me to do something bad to others or myself with it. Again thank you so much!

[ahhhhhhhhhh]

I got diagnosed with ocd last year because I had a nervous breakdown over my health. I was convinced I had appendicitis and it terrified me. I did "checking" by doing things like pressing my stomach or dropping from my tippy toes to my feet to ease my mind. Although it provided reassurance for a while it always came back and I had to reassure myself again and again. Eventually at a new years I drove myself physically ill with worry and cried in the bathroom and eventually ended up throwing up. OCD is exhausting. I'm glad to be medicated just to escape from the intrusive thoughts.

[KURH]

For me my ocd causes me to think about and obsess about very disturbing gory intrusive thoughts. These thoughts have scared the crap out of me, making me fear myself and fear for others. I was and still am afraid of becoming anything close to a murderer or a serial killer. Because I have these intrusive thoughts I usually end up doing things to help prevent myself from ever becoming like that. Usually what I’ll do, is if any knives or sharp objects are lying around I’ll throw them in the sink or put them somewhere where I can’t immediately get them. Then I usually constantly tell myself no in my mind and I tell myself that I’m not gonna ever end up like those monsters. This usually repeats every day and it’s a constant nightmare and hell for me. I just wish I didn’t have these scary intrusive thoughts and I really wish I was normal. But of course I was born with a curse and I’m now stuck with this for the rest of my life. Also what makes things worse is the fact that I struggle with severe anxiety so whenever I have intrusive thoughts that make me worry I’ll end up having a panic attack. Over all I hate this and just wish I were normal..

[yelyahfanx]

Nothing infuriates me more than seeing someone say that they're OCD because they like things neat, meanwhile I spent a ton of money shipping my hoarding when I moved because I couldn't just throw it away, used to stand waiting on someone to pass because I couldn't cross the line they walked, did compulsions every time I saw numbers or had an intrusive thoughts and to this day still can't touch doorknobs, light switches and the sink or sit on my own toilet without covering because I've had these contamination issues so long that even now knowing it's OCD I just can't bring myself to touch things and feel dirty. But sure, like things organized a certain way is totally the same as spending 20 minutes brushing your teeth cause they don't feel clean enough or crying for an hour because your brain is convinced you committed a crime and forgot or are going to lose control and hurt someone even though you don't want to ( even though your OCD will then say you're lying to yourself and you're just a bad person no matter what).

Totes the same. Anyway thanks for the OCD content.

[rosinsimp]

I sadly have ocd and it really sometimes ruins life, and for anyone who haves ocd, I wish the best even if you go trough hard times! <3

[vlr]

I have this weird thing I do with my hair. I can't stand how my hair roots split or how small hairs stay on my neck. I split all of them and tie them up in multiple tiny ponytails. It calms me down and makes me feel right. It looks very weird though and my family was freaked out by it. I can't help it though.
I also can't put my bag on the ground because I think the particles would then get on my house carpet.
I haven't been diagnosed with OCD. Doctors here don't even know of such a thing.