'How OCD are you?' and other inaccurate quizzes.

I've noticed recently a lot of people taking a quiz called 'How OCD are you?' on Facebook.

Not one to turn down a good quiz, I had a look. It is basically a series of photographs of things that aren't quite 'right', for example loads of boxes of beer stacked up with one turned upside down, and a petrol pump display with the price £39.99 on it. Underneath each one, you have to rate how much it 'bothers' you between 1 - 4, with 1 being not a lot and 4 being loads.

I understand that most people who take quizzes like that know that they're not accurate, but it really bothers me how much it trivialises the whole thing.

Having an OCD is not about feeling a bit uncomfortable when something is out of place. OCDs can be dreadful. If something is not done in a certain way, it can ruin a sufferer's whole day - or even life. They cannot be simplified to a few slightly difficult photographs.

You can not be 80% OCD, 40% OCD, 10% OCD, etc. OCDs are diagnosable and treatable psychological disorders. The same applies to many other things which similar 'diagnostic' quizzes exist for on the internet. One of the more disturbing ones I found when I did a quick search was titled 'Are you Obese, fat, normal, skinny, or anorexic? (For girls 11-16)'.

If you think you have an OCD, don't take a quiz on Facebook. Go see a doctor. The same applies for any other condition. And if you are one of these extremely knowledgeable individuals who creates these quizzes - please stop. Not only do they give the impression to impressionable people that crippling psychological disorders can be defined using a few generic 'issues' or symptoms that some people with them may have, they also add to the already huge problem of people not understanding mental health problems or realising how damaging they are.