“#ThatsOCD”: Understanding OCD Beyond the Stereotypes
OCD Awareness Week | October 11–17, 2026
When I first began working with those who experience obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), one statistic really stood out to me. On average, people spend at least seven years (and sometimes up to sixteen!) between the onset of symptoms and receiving an accurate diagnosis. This is just the start to their journey into effective treatment.
Seven. Years. And for some? The journey is considerably longer.
OCD can be incredibly distressing. The thoughts themselves can feel frightening, confusing, or completely at odds with who someone understands themselves to be. There can be an enormous amount of shame attached to the content of those thoughts. This often adds to the difficulty in talking about them, let alone asking for help.
Many people spend years in isolation, trying to make sense of their experiences. Part of what makes this so difficult is that OCD is still widely misunderstood, both by the public and by the people experiencing it themselves.
October 11–17, 2026, marks OCD Awareness Week, led by the International OCD Foundation (IOCDF). This year’s theme, “That’s OCD,” aims to challenge common misconceptions and bring greater awareness to the many ways OCD can show up.
In the spirit of this year’s campaign, let’s talk about a few things that are often misunderstood.
