When is OCD not OCD?

[RustCollector]

Hi, new here

I've found OCD a strange concept and quite mysterious. Over the years therapists have tended to say to me that diagnosis isn't what they want to focus on as the practices and treatments can help a variety of people irrespective of the pathology.

My son (7) experiences sensory OCD-like traits (symmetry with footwear, being tucked in under the table when he was very little) and I have significant difficult with looping thoughts that are understandable from my history of anxiety/adhd and ptsd.

I would say that for me not being able to have any leverage over my intrusive thoughts growing up was a huge issue right up to today but I think lack of parental care in that area was a major factor.

I take Sertraline just 50mg now having changed medication from 15 years of Venlafaxine at a high dose which I started on after undiagnosed PTSD (which I now recognise as PTSD as I've in the last few years experienced new PTSD). I also pay weekly for DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) which has given me tools I've never realised existed for emotional regulation.

I worry that my son(s) will be at risk of this too, he experienced a lot of stress through post natal depression and covid and when he was a baby his mum often tried to get him excited to help him feel better (distract him) this didn't sit right with me at the time and I realise now that this is because it was because she was struggling so much she couldn't help him regulate. He has subsequently retained this lack of focus and hyperactive switching from feeling to feeling and is hard to interject with him and try and help him regulate, plus it's pretty new to me so I'm learning as I go on how best to teach.

OCD seems like such a misunderstood condition that mostly people think is about turning lights off and on x number of times. What are you experiences of not knowing you had OCD compared to getting treatment etc.? What are your experiences of how not to help someone or best help someone?