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READER REPORT: A few years ago my daughter was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
With new sensitivity, we heard and saw OCD being trivialised everywhere.
As we queued for sourdough at the local bakery, there on display were tasteful brown bags of sustainably sourced coffee beans, proclaiming Obsessive Coffee Drinkers.
We exchanged uncomfortable glances and began to avoid going there.
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A shop assistant tidying away discarded clothes remarked “A bit OCD, I know”. Little did she realise how hard OCD had made it to venture out.
The day a teacher admired a freshly opened box of crayons, colours enticingly arranged in a rainbow, “How OCD”, I quietly left in tears choking on the usage being modelled to a class of primary school children.
It’s an experience shared by others in the OCD community. Relieved to finally know the cause of their child’s mental distress, concerned as to what the future might bring and silenced by an instinctive sense of privacy, parents flinch inwardly and smile weakly.
Children, teenagers, and adults living with OCD quickly learn that telling others is a risky enterprise due to teammates and colleagues not taking the time to truly listen because they “already know”.
Toughen up I’ve been advised. People mean no harm, you need to get over it. And I get that.
People don’t mean any harm. They don’t know the hidden impact that their carefree words, their unplanned remarks have.
A university lecturer who comments “I’m being OCD” as they correct a minor point? That makes it even more difficult for a student to pluck up the courage to request an accommodation needed because of actual OCD.
With some people it is a slip of the tongue due to common usage, and they realise it is not appropriate, but you don’t know beforehand which way they’re going to react.
Whereas having previously established an awareness of OCD, it is so much easier to ask for help, and you are confident that they’ll be understanding.
Harder to accept than thoughtless one-off remarks is the practice of (mis)using OCD in company names, trademarks and products. It’s a lazy way of virtue signalling – we’re meticulous, we’re passionate, we take pride in our work.
Supplied
Marion Maw’s daughter has OCD. She says the term is often misused by those who don’t have it.
There’s a bitter irony to the widespread stereotypes and misconceptions about OCD. In the community and among health professionals, there’s often a failure to recognise when someone is experiencing actual OCD.
The Fixate community is petitioning parliament about the dire lack of mental health professionals with expertise in OCD treatment.
Step one? Explaining that OCD isn’t trivial, it’s an experience of mental distress that disrupts the lives of 1-2% of New Zealanders.
At present, the onus is on advocates from the OCD community to spot appropriation of OCD for commercial gain, and then to rely on business owners’ co-operation or on media coverage.
It’s easy for a business to ignore emails or block comments on their social media. Do their customers have any idea that there’s an issue?
Owners put a lot of time and commitment into their businesses, it’s understandable that they defend existing company names, trademarks and products.
There needs to be improved awareness and understanding of OCD so that they know better than to go there in the first place.
The advantages gained by registering a company name or trademark are a privilege that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
And yet here we are approving company names with OCD in their titles. To be clear, I have no problem with trademarks that coincidentally abbreviate to OCD, such as those for Open Country Dairy or Otter Craft Distilling.
Why is this misappropriation of OCD allowed? The websites of the Companies Office and Intellectual Property Office say that there is provision to reject a company name or trademark on the grounds of offence.
Indeed, any trademark application that references Māori culture is automatically referred to an advisory committee where it is scrutinised carefully.
These days we are much more conscious of mental health, of acceptance and understanding of neurodiversity.
Surely it’s time we reconsidered the trivialisation and misrepresentation of OCD.
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