I think it depends what your goal is? Are you trying to get treatment for it? My parents have known I’ve had OCD since before I turned 2 and I’ve seen dozens of specialist but they’re more concerned about other things and just say I have OCD tendencies. It’s gotten a lot worse as I’m getting older but I don’t want treatment for it, therefore I don’t need a diagnosis. It all depends on what you’re trying to do

I’ve had OCD since I was a toddler but I got diagnosed officially in 2018 by a psychiatrist in a psychiatric office, not by a therapist. I’m not sure if it matters to have it, it’s just a peace of mind thing, you know? In my experience it’s very difficult to find a therapist that knows how to deal with OCD, and I was looking for one before I even got diagnosed properly.

I had this really intense mobile game perfectionism compulsion that I was working on in my psychiatry appointment because I could not waste a minute not doing it. He asked about it and I explained it. He said it sounded like OCD so I mentioned my other symptoms and he was like “You definitely have OCD”. Ever since my psychiatrists have all noticed without me mentioning it because they see me doing something funky like avoiding tile lines, eating food in order, or color coding everything.