“I’m so OCD.” “I think I’m a little OCD, I like things neat.” Clinicians hear versions of this constantly, said casually, sometimes as a joke, sometimes with a note of pride. The person is usually describing themselves as particular, exacting, or a little controlling. Almost none of it has anything to do with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

OCD is defined by intrusive, unwanted thoughts that generate real anxiety, disgust, or dread, and …

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Few psychiatric terms have migrated into everyday language as completely as “bipolar.” It is now routinely used to describe irritability, emotional volatility, and rapid shifts in mood. Yet this widespread usage reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the condition itself.

At the center of the confusion is a mismatch of scale. The public conception of “mood swings” involves rapid fluctuation, changes occurring over minutes or hours. These shifts may be mild, or …

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“I’ve never really been able to focus, but it’s only become a real problem in the last few years, since I started this job. Could I be evaluated for adult ADHD?”

I hear a version of this request often, and it captures a confusion built into the term itself. “Adult ADHD” sounds like it names a condition that begins in adulthood, the way adult-onset diabetes or adult-onset asthma can. It doesn’t, …

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