Tennis star Serena Williams recently made headlines by claiming to have a “slight case of OCD”. Williams indicated that she although she has not been officially diagnosed by a health professional, she feels she has OCD based on getting angry easily, being perfectionist, liking order and being obsessed with things such as doing her nails.
A few thoughts on this:
- Because the symptoms of OCD can resemble other mental-illnesses, a diagnosis of OCD should only be made by a qualified health professional such as physician, family doctor or psychologist. Getting a proper diagnosis is the key to getting proper treatment.
- Having OCD is not simply about wanting order or being a perfectionist. Symptoms of OCD include intense obsessions and compulsions that cause distress and impairment in most or all parts of your life.
- Some of the habits or tendencies that Williams mentions are more aligned with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder than OCD.
in my experience, anyone who says “ocd” is a good thing, does not have it. According to the diagnostic criteria of DSMV, a person with ocd must present symptoms that disrupt more than an hour of the day. If Serena says she doesnt mind it, and thinks its a good thing to be a perfectionist, than she is simply talking about quirks. Additionally, anger is not part of the diagnostic criteria.