All of a sudden, it seems, every other child has a malady not widely known before the 1960s, such as Asperger's syndrome (a disorder itself related to OCD), allergies, autism, and attention deficit disorder (sometimes with hyperactivity). Celiac disease, a syndrome arising from gluten and other dietary sensitivities, has also become more prominent, along with any number of other heretofore little-known health problems. The average person can hardly be expected to keep up with each newly identified condition. For that and other reasons, you may notice a lot of mistaken perception about OCD on the parts of friends, acquaintances, family members, and the various media.

Then, too, for many years, the only thing the general public seemed to know about OCD was that people who had it couldn't stop cleaning their homes or counting things. (These days, people also know to associate OCD with excessive hand washing.) While this is true for many OCD sufferers, to be sure, it is not true of all!

Private Lives

Friends, family, roommates, coworkers, and significant others: The more time you spend with any of these people, the more obvious your symptoms will likely become. What can you do? Any number of things.

However, how and whether you will want to try to educate others about OCD in general or your OCD in particular will depend on a number of things, such as:

• Whether they're open to hearing what you, or others, have to say

• Whether you have the right tools to give them

• How much time and effort both sides are willing to invest

• Whether you want to try to educate other people

• Whether they have the desire to learn more about OCD

• Any number of other factors particular to your unique situation

The first thing you'll want to decide is, whom do you want to educate? For the time being, the answer may be no one. And if that's what you choose, it's fine. You have the perfect right to remain silent about your disorder (which is, after all, your business). There are plenty of ways to deal with OCD without sharing your information with the world at large.

The Choice is Yours

On the other hand, you may feel as if OCD is nothing to be ashamed of, and decide to share with everyone you know, and lots of people you don't know. That's fine, too. Why not? You may even take it upon yourself to become a sort of informal ambassador for the condition, putting a friendly and knowledgeable face on it.

More likely, you will choose a few close associates to start with, and you'll tell them because it's important to you, or because you think your behavior needs explanation at this point. (Or because they've asked.) Once you do make the decision to talk with close friends or family members, you will want to determine how much information is good for all of you.