“I’m So OCD,” by Mary Wilson of Kirkwood, MO, is a personal article that portrays the author’s struggle with OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. The piece is reflecting upon society and its habits to joke about OCD. An example given is of a girl organizing her Smarties by color. She says that she’s “so OCD,” a phrase that has been trending recently, according to Wilson. Wilson illustrates her disorder throughout the text by providing the readers with rituals that she follows, an effect of her disorder. They include rubbing her hands together and counting to seven, having taps on both shoulders, and having irrational fears like falling through the floor, as consequences for not participating in her constant rituals. She then mentions her discomfort that occurs when people act excitedly about her OCD, and concludes with how she wishes people treated her differently, as one boy once did. I thoroughly enjoyed this article because I now see OCD from a different perspective, not as the perfectionist friend or the friend that says she’s obsessed with order and organization, but a disorder that is real and alive and is active in people who don’t only organize their Smarties by color, but rub their hands together and tap themselves on their shoulder because they really can’t help it.
     After reading this piece, I feel like what I thought OCD was erased entirely from my memory and rewritten in a way that not only made more sense, but gave me an insight on the world of OCD. This article especially appealed to me because of the phrase “I’m so OCD,” something similar to things I’ve heard around me. People would joke that they have OCD, and I always knew that that was a cruel and terrible joke, and definitely not something to laugh about, but I was never able to put my finger on what it was that made it so serious. What was OCD, and why wasn’t it a joke? Now I know. Wilson says, “Tap your left shoulder, in the exact same way, or you’ll get … you'll get… But no. That’s a compulsion. If I tap myself on the left shoulder, I’ll make the OCD stronger, make myself sicker and sicker, until I’m unable to go to school. I’ve been that way before, and it’s not glamorous.” This relates to how people think of it as a joke, or as Wilson says, “the new cool thing,” but she proves that OCD is anything but cool, or a joke. It interrupts her daily activities, and it should not be taken lightly in the least. This piece is very insightful and will hopefully extinguish the terrible jokes and fun poked at the disorder.