As with many mental illnesses, there is a range in severity and there can easily be overlapping conditions to complicate the matter.  Often just abbreviated as “O.C.D.,” Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can plague people who are otherwise extremely successful in their careers and who can also be very happy and satisfied in their personal lives.  Howard Stern and Howie Mandel, two famous germaphobes come to mind, both of whom have publicly discussed their O.C.D. diagnosis.

You will get differing opinions about whether O.C.D. is a clinically defined mental illness or a Personality Disorder, but the distinction is really not the most important thing to discuss, nor does the medical distinction improve or worsen the experience of one who suffers from it.

Under the canopy of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, there are many manifestations of it. While one person may have a singular “obsession,” it is likely that the disorder influences not just one part of a person’s life.  If a person needs to wash their hands 33 times per day, it is likely that they are not functioning optimally in other areas of their life as well. Some behaviors might be time consuming, but not completely debilitate a person, such as the man or woman who needs to check three times that the door has been locked before they leave their home.

My mother used to joke about having been labeled Obsessive Compulsive when she was a young woman and I did notice as a child that she used to make daily to-do lists with passion.  But is that really a problem?  Some people would consider that as just being organized.  In fact, success coaches encourage people to write down their goals and insist they will have a better chance of achieving them that way. Perhaps the problem is not with list-making, but the anxiety which results if a person doesn’t follow their list, forgets to bring their list with them to the store or misplaces it.

When I was about eight years old, I noticed that I would empty my bedroom waste basket as soon as I tossed a single piece of crumpled paper into it. One day I realized that what I was doing was peculiar and I consciously told myself to stop it. After that insightful day, I would allow myself to see my bedroom waste basket nearly overflowing (fulfilling its role as a waste basket) before I would empty it out. I was victorious in one area, but then continued to twirl my hair for many years until I also trained myself to stop after a few minutes. As a child, I did not have the word or concept to call myself neurotic, but I knew it was strange and willed myself to stop doing those repetitive, robotic actions.

More than certain rituals or routines carried out, it would seem that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can cause the most hardship in a person’s life when their interactions with other people become the object of the compulsion. If a person ends a relationship and the other person with O.C.D. continues to leave messages or texts a hundred times a day, well that could result in a harassment case and a restraining order. Needless to say, there is a priority in treating some compulsions over others.

We all have a tendency to be O.C.D. (when used as an adjective). Some people funnel their O.C.D. tendencies into their work ethic. Others may be perpetual worriers regarding their children and labeled “helicopter mom.”  This is a far cry from someone whose O.C.D. is coupled with body dysmorphia, or they can’t leave their home before showering eight times or if they compulsively eat themselves up to 400 pounds.

There is medication for O.C.D. which can help control the most intense or damaging aspects to this kind of condition. Whether or not O.C.D. is a mental illness or a personality disorder may depend on the severity of it, in how it disrupts normal human functioning. O.C.D. may just be one symptom of anxiety. Anxiety can be treated with medication or more naturally with therapy, nutrition and exercise. The caution however, is for the patient to not transfer their O.C.D. into “Orthorexia,” which is an obsession to be healthy! Nor do we want to see someone try to reduce stress through exercise, only to turn it into a compulsion, causing chronic exhaustion through over-exertion. No doubt, perfectionism and addiction can be tied to O.C.D. as well.

Kartar Diamond is a Mental Illness Advocate and author of Noah’s Schizophrenia: A Mother’s Search for Truth