I was sitting in a bar with one of my friends, and she said something like, "I'm so OCD, I have to keep everything organized!" I'm usually very skeptical about these things, but I decided to tell her a story about a coworker of mine.

Two of my coworkers and I were playing a board game during our lunch break. One of them told us she has a problem: when she leaves the house, she has to check everything multiple times or she won't stop worrying about it. You know, the usual Did you unplug the iron? Did you turn off the stove? Did you close the door?.. That sounds normal, or so we thought. A lot of people do that. But then she clarified that she once checked to see if the door was closed for 15 minutes... 15 minutes! Can you imagine?! She kept pulling the doorknob to make sure it was closed. And she wasn't alone; she had her little brother with her. She couldn't stop until he burst into tears and begged, "Let's go already!" We told her that she needed help and she should go see a doctor, that therapy and medication would make it better, but she just denied it and insisted, "I'm not sick!"

I left that job more than two years ago and I'm not in touch with any of my coworkers. But sometimes I wonder, did she seek help? Is she better now? And every time someone claims they have OCD, I think about her. I recently became aware that OCD can take many forms, but that's another story.

Now, back to my friend. I'm in no position to determine whether she has that mental disorder or not, but I encourage everyone to go see a doctor and get checked. You should get help if there's anything that's bothering you. That's what I told her.

Some people get annoyed by those who fake mental illness, especially on social media. It doesn't really bother me. I even think that there's some benefit to talking about mental illness on social media platforms like TikTok. It raises awareness and might encourage people to get help with something they didn't even know was a treatable condition. You have to remember, though, that a lot of people have no idea what they're talking about. If you're in doubt, do your own research and contact a specialist.