In USA compared to Europe, they sometimes bend the very well defined diagnosis of OCD to cover other behavior that is not OCD. I thought I'd make a short list of examples of what OCD is not.

OCD is understanding the intrusive thoughts and rituals are useless. It also have an aspect of wanting to get rid of them. They seem foreign to self. What makes it an illness part of the loop we get stuck in, is that emotion is not calibrated at all. In OCD, emotion, not reason says we must do certain things.

So when someone spins objects or line them up as a sort of stress relief, that is not OCD.

When someone is very careful about how the home looks and they really take pride in it being neat and clean and well organized, it is not OCD. (Pop culture thinks this is what OCD is...) Even when it takes more time and energy than it should, it is not OCD because the person feels it serves a purpose and they want to do these things.

OCD is not tics.

OCD is not mental rumination when you feel down and go over and over and over all your mistakes in life. Or get stuck in thinking what someone meant by saying something to the point where you can't drop it.

OCD is not normal superstition or having normal lucky colors and numbers.

OCD is not wanting to have the days the same every day and a need for sameness and familiarity.

I had an American friend that got the label OCD simply because he was stimming and lined up things. He did this because it handled his anxiety.

If it would have been OCD, it could have looked the same, but he would have known the lining up things is pointless, and he would not get true relaxation from it, just the relief you get once you have fallen for an OCD compulsion. He was happy lining up things and thought the doc knows best. It irked me a bit because this didn't even interfere with his life.