I know you’ve seen this picture before.  It was too perfect for this post, I couldn’t resist.

What not to say to people you know have OCD or other clinical anxiety diagnoses:

“You worry too much”  (No shit, Sherlock.  You breathe too much.)

“Mellow out, it’s not that big a deal”  (Maybe to you it isn’t, to us it’s a punishable offense)

“Stop obsessing about… (whatever)”  (That’s what we DO)

“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill”  (If I could make a mole out of a mountain I would totally stop making a mountain out of a molehill.)

“You’re probably deficient in vitamins.”   (There is no possible way to answer this appropriately)

“All you need to do is stop FOCUSING so much on… (whatever you’re focusing on)”   (If I could paste a picture of Richard Armitage on the inside of my frontal lobe I would most certainly do it asap.)

“Your fears are irrational.”  (I had no idea.  Now I can just stop having them.)

“If you expose yourself to your fears repeatedly you’ll desensitize yourself to them.”  (Okay.  So if I’m afraid of hobo spiders I should go get me some a them babies and scatter them around my house and I’ll either be dead in a fortnight or cured of my fear of them?  That’s got a twisted brilliance to it… looking for some a them babies stat!)

“There’s nothing wrong with you- you’re totally normal!”  (Dude, if you think I’m normal it’s time for you to get your own psyche eval)

“You can’t have OCD.  You don’t count shit all day long and you don’t do anything weird”  (50% of my energy is exerted in making sure you don’t SEE the weird things I do)

I reserve the right to add to or change this list any time I want, subject to new revelations and idiotic comments.  Those who have said these things to a person with OCD or other Anxiety without KNOWING that person had such issues is wholly exempt from the full scope of my irritation which is quite formidable.