 Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back to our channel. Before we begin, this is a disclaimer that this video is for informative purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition. Please reach out to a qualified healthcare provider or mental health professional if you're struggling. With that said, let's begin. Are you familiar with obsessive-compulsive disorder? Many who are unfamiliar with the disorder often associate it with purely perfectionism. Some individuals may even think they're so OCD due to perfectionist traits, which can be harmful to those who actually suffer from OCD. OCD and perfectionism are two very different things. The National Institute of Mental Health defines OCD as a common chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable reoccurring thoughts, obsessions, behaviors, and or compulsions that they feel the urge to repeat over and over. While perfectionism is often seen as a personality trait, where one feels the need to be perfect in what they do, often being more detail-oriented and critical of certain projects, tasks, or oneself. Unaware of the differences, many see OCD and perfectionism as one and the same, but they are very different. For one, OCD is a mental disorder while perfectionism is a personality trait. Perfectionism is not considered a disorder. An article in the journal Frontiers of Psychiatry describes a mental disorder as a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbances in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental process underlying mental functioning. A mental disorder is not a trait, but rather a mental illness that disrupts mental and physical functions as well as one's day-to-day life. However, there has been a link to perfectionism as a trait in individuals who have obsessive compulsive personality disorder. So how exactly are they similar, and how do they differ? The difference lies in the level of rationale one has in regards to the thought or action. A perfectionist may have their own morning ritual or organizational habits, for example. This often does not get in the way of their life. Many perfectionists simply enjoy being thorough and detail-oriented. A perfectionist may enjoy organizing their closet by color, or they may have high standards for cleanliness. On the other hand, people with OCD may have intrusive thoughts that cause them to enact compulsions repetitively. Whereas a perfectionist may wash their hands extra thoroughly, someone with OCD may feel the need to pump the hands up dispenser dozens of times until it feels right. This acts as a compulsion and can be debilitating for those suffering from the mental disorder. In fact, many who suffer from OCD don't relate to compulsions that involve washing their hands or organizing. Many with OCD suffer from intrusive thoughts that are constant, which often lead them to carry out compulsions. Examples of common intrusive thoughts among those suffering from the disorder are thoughts of causing violent harm to loved ones, causing sexual harm to others. The thought that simply thinking about something terrible will make it more likely to happen, or even hyper-awareness of bodily sensations, often called sensory motor obsessions. This is only to name a few. There are several ways OCD can manifest itself. Common types of OCD include checking, contamination, mental contamination, intrusive thoughts, ruminations, and symmetry and orderliness. If you'd like to learn more about the types of OCD and how they manifest, be sure to check out our video on the topic. Do you have constant intrusive thoughts and or obsessions? Do you feel an ongoing urge to enact repetitive compulsions? Are your physical and mental functions being disrupted due to obsessive thoughts and compulsions? If so, we encourage you to reach out to a qualified healthcare provider or mental health professional to get a proper diagnosis. So, do you know the differences between OCD and perfectionism? Are you a perfectionist? Or do you suffer from OCD? Feel free to share your experiences with us in the comments. Or maybe you're just here to learn more about mental health and psychology. Well, welcome. And thanks for learning. Consider yourself a Psych2Goer. If you found this video helpful, don't forget to click the like button and share this video with someone who could benefit from it. Subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell icon for more content like this. And as always, thanks for watching.