The term “obsessive-compulsive” has become a jokey shorthand, to the detriment of people who actually suffer. While shuffling through a Washington, D.C.-area metro station recently, I noticed a large ad for the technology company  Brocade plastered on the wall: Obsessive Compulsive Reorder (n.): The need to buy expensive IP networking gear again and again. This is, of course, an attempt at a cheeky play on obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which sufferers have compulsions to do the same things over and over. Companies and people alike frequently evoke the mental disorder with light hearted puns or references just like that one. Misuse of the term “OCD” has become popular, leading to misunderstandings revolving around the disorder itself. The examples are endless: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics offers high-end makeup; Buzzfeed routinely publishes articles like “33 Meticulous Cleaning Tricks for the OCD Person Inside You” and “19 Things That Will Drive Your OCD Self Insane;” searching “OCD” on Pinterest yields few results on the actual disorder; and social media is littered with countless hashtags like #ObsessiveChristmasDisorder, #ObsessiveCastleDisorder, and #ObsessiveCrossFitDisorder.

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