Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

[Pasta>Cruelty]

I've heard people talk about obsessive compulsive disorder before, and I think I have it to a minor degree. Whenever I play basketball, I always take four shots before I go in. The stipulations are-the first two shots don't count, but I must make the second two, and the last one must be of some difficulty. If I miss one of the last two, I do it again until I make them. I have done this as long as I can remember, and I don't really think it hurts anything-I like the process. However, that is not the only odd thing I do. I'm obsessed with numbers, specifically adding and subtracting them to make other numbers. I can't wear a watch because I always look at it when all the numbers add up to 60 or 100-for example, at 2:47 and 11 seconds, or 12:30 and 58 seconds. I feel like I have to look at my watch at those times-it's hard to explain why, but I just feel that I must do it. The worst part, however, is page numbers. We use textbooks in almost every class, and invariably, I will end up staring at the page numbers. The best is when I can add or subtract them to make 11-I don't know why, but I always want to make 11. 2 Page 245 is a good example. Also, if I can split them up to make 11, that is good too-with 247, I can split the two into two 1s and then add one, subtract one, and add 4 and 7, making 11 total. Oh, and 16 is also a good number-I always want to make 16 when possible as well. 10 and 15 are both okay as well. If I can't make any of those, I go and look at a page where I can make them. Say we're on page 149, I will skip to page 169 to make 16. I have very good concentration and never get lost with my teacher's lesson, so that is not the problem. The problem is that when I am on a page where I can't add the numbers to make anything good, it really bothers me. It makes me despair to see the wrong numbers. Does anyone else have a problem like this? Are there any ways to fix it, othger than just trying to block it out? I want to know more about this subject. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Pasta>Cruelty

[Vegankat]

In my opinion, "OCD" is just thrown around pretty haphazardly these days. I've "suffered" from it for years, even been medicated for it, and I just feel like it's a part of my personality.


I would only start taking it really seriously if it is severely hindering your ability to function in day-to-day life. If it's not debilitating, you can either leave it and accept it as one of your quirks, or if it just bothers you, you can "retrain" yourself through various means (ie. rewarding yourself for going a whole day without doing x. And remember, it works like an addiction - if you can make it through 28 days, you've pretty much broken the habit - or so they say).

[CountessKerouac]

In my opinion, "OCD" is just thrown around pretty haphazardly these days. I've "suffered" from it for years, even been medicated for it, and I just feel like it's a part of my personality.


I would only start taking it really seriously if it is severely hindering your ability to function in day-to-day life. If it's not debilitating, you can either leave it and accept it as one of your quirks, or if it just bothers you, you can "retrain" yourself through various means (ie. rewarding yourself for going a whole day without doing x. And remember, it works like an addiction - if you can make it through 28 days, you've pretty much broken the habit - or so they say).


OCD IS thrown around haphazardly these days.

I had severe, severe OCD. I couldn't do anything with having to count 4 times. Whenever I listened to music, I had to start the song over 4 times. Then, I had to blink at every even number. I couldn't step on cracks on the sidewalk and if I even thought I did, I had to go back and step again until it "felt right". This carried over into obsessing over if someone was outside my window, in my closer, or under my bed, waiting to kill me. I had to check the closet 40 times before I felt even moderately safe to go to sleep. I had issues with symmetry. I couldn't write without having to fill in any loops or circles I made (like writing scipt d's, b's, etc). It got to the point where I was blinking over and over and over again until my eyes hurt. It made me cry and it was then I vowed to get better.

I underwent self-CBT. I highly recommend CBT.

I don't have time to go into more detail, but I will come back later! :)

[rainbow_clouds]

:yes: What Vegankat said.

[CountessKerouac]

Vegankat is right.

OCD is a very serious mental illness. But, if it does not interfere with your life to point where you cannot function normally, than I wouldn't consider reading too much into it. We all have our quirks. Some more than others. :D

However, the way you are speaking about specific numbers being "okay" and "not okay" makes me think this may be true OCD.

[rainbowmoon]

I think that OCD can get very dehabilitating. Some of us are certainly more obsessive than others, and I think that some people do experience issues with obsession and compulsion that are mild yet bothersome.
I think its important to keep this tendacy in check, as it can develop into fullblown OCD given a traumatic life event or even just letting the obsessions and compulsions build on one another. My point: stop it right now. Interupt these thoughts and fight the compulsions at this moment- the more you fight it, the more you see its ok to not give into them, the less they interfere with your life.

[Vegankat]

Vegankat is right.

OCD is a very serious mental illness. But, if it does not interfere with your life to point where you cannot function normally, than I wouldn't consider reading too much into it. We all have our quirks. Some more than others. :D

However, the way you are speaking about specific numbers being "okay" and "not okay" makes me think this may be true OCD.

Yeah, the numbers obsession is a tip-off, in most cases, as is an obsession with patters and symmetry. I never felt like my problem was serious until my therapist convinced me that I was a freak and needed to be medicated for it. I admit, my ED/food obsession most likely stemmed from OCD - when I was young, absolutely NONE of my food could touch, or I couldn't eat it, or if I had a salad or stir-fry or anything where there are a variety of different food items mixed up, I had to eat everything in order - "warm" colored things first (I'd eat all the tomatoes, for example, and when those were gone I would move on to the carrots, then corn/squash, etc), and then the green stuff, and so on. If I discovered that I had missed something that I should have eaten earlier, I had to stop eating. No more. This almost always happened. I also absolutely had to chew each bite 100 times. It didn't matter if it had basically turned to liquid by the 20th bite. This caused a lot of problems at the dinner table, let me tell you.

I'm okay about it now, I guess, ED aside. I still like to eat my food "in order", but I don't obsess over it. It's just second nature by now. I think I have a lot of more pressing matters to deal with than which color food I should eat first. XD

[Thalia]

I've read about how serious it can get, so when I notice very minor forms of it in myself, I try to monitor it and if it gets worse I just make myself stop.

The only thing I do now is if I think about something bad happening or speculate that something good might happen, I have to knock on wood. And sometimes I knock for like 15 seconds just to make sure. I feel like something bad will happen if I don't. I know it's crazy, of course. I hardly do it anymore because it started interfering with getting to sleep, so sometimes I force myself to not do it.

I'm glad people are talking about this because I think most people read about OCD and think, "Why don't they just stop" or "Don't they know that's crazy?" and don't realize it has nothing to do with being foolish, it's an illness that is hard for anyone to get over once it gets bad.

I also have a tendency towards hair pulling. Recently I started compulsively pulling my cat's loose hair and once I realized what I was doing I stopped. My former bf pulled his hair enough to get a tiny bald patch that never grew back. http://www.trich.org/home/

[CountessKerouac]

Vegankat, my eating problems/food issues also stemmed from the OCD.

[ComradeTassadar]

This post has been edited.

[Vegankat]

If you have any good tips for the disease-phobia thing, could you please share? I know someone who has serious problems with health anxiety, and I want to try to help him. Thank you! :D

[ComradeTassadar]

This post has been edited.

[Vegankat]

So, for your friend, I would recommend that both of you sit down and look at the situation from a logical perspective - what is causing the problem and can psychologists and medicaton truely help? I wasted much time, money, and energy going through such a process when it was not required.


The logical part might be hard - his fears really are illogical, and he often even admits being aware that they're illogical. It seems to me like he knows, deep down, that he's making something out of nothing, so to speak, but the illogical part still takes over. I also believe there is a connection between his health anxiety and other anxieties/problems going on in his life. It's like a side-effect, almost.

He used to take medication for anxiety and such, but he doesn't anymore, and while he's mentioned perhaps trying medication again, I'm not so sure that it's a solution in the long run. I think he has to fix it within himself, learn to control it, like how I did with my OCD when medication was only dulling me and treating the symptoms instead of being a means to an end. That's not to say he should do it all on his own - and I guess that's where I come in. I want to be a good support base with helpful suggestions for him, someone to turn to when he feels the anxiety coming on, so we can talk through it rationally.

Thank you so much for your insight. :D

[Vicky]

i know someone who turns the lights off 4 times before leaving the house, and turns them back on 4 times too i think :)
a light form of that runs in my bf's family i think, but his uncle has it the most - he can't see anything " out of place " so he's always putting (sometimes throwing) things away, washing the dishes, cleaning tables .... he often throws away stuff that everyone needs just because it's old or something like that. the first thing he does when he comes home is the dishes, then the cleaning .... but you know, it's always clean in the house and we are pretty used to it, so it can be a benefit (except for the times when he throws away things without asking)
i also know someone that checks if the lights, iron, stove, water are off before leaving the house more than one time.
so i guess it's pretty normal, it's all good as long as you can deal with it :) and if the number thing bothers you, experiment. try not looking at the numbers, or paint them in

[Christy]

You down wit' OCD? Yeah, you know me.

I joke that I have OCD or OCD tendencies, but I'm really just anal retentive. The tendencies really came out a few years ago when I was on weight watchers and keeping up with the points for every morsel of food I ate. Just ask Leigh and my husband, it got pretty scary. I can still get that way, but I try not to. I still write down everything I eat (and my workouts), but i'm not as precise with it.

[SeaSiren]

Yep, I check to stove, doors, closets ets before bed and a few times at night. And the lights, stove etc before bed. Check kid's several time throughout the night, etc. Food items must be a certain way in the cabinets, door locks are checked a few times before leaving home, etc.

I think my stems from, my son dying young (premmie) at the hospital before I could take him home, therefore I have always checked kid's breathing through the night since their infantcy. I was broke into 3 times while living in a less then desirable neighborhood when I was first on my own, thus checking doors and closets....don't want to be suprised. I have had the stove bumped before and the gas was accidentally on, so I generally check it before bed, etc.

As far as the cabinets, I just like things neat, maybe it's a little quirky. But, none of this is debilitating so it's just part of my personality. :sunny:

[Christy]

I once made my husband turn around and come home after we'd gotten about an hour away from the house on the way to his mom's in SC. I wasn't sure if I'd taken the camera battery off the charger and would have driven myself crazy while out of town wondering if it would explode and burn the house down.

ETA: And my friends have tormented me in the past. Some high school friends would throw popcorn in the floor when I wasn't looking, then be amused as I mindlessly picked it up. And another would move things on my shelves and tables when I left the room to see how long it would take for me to notice.

[SeaSiren]

And another would move things on my shelves and tables when I left the room to see how long it would take for me to notice.

That's just wrong. :stinkeye:

[Christy]

I know! I didn't mean to gloss over your experiences. It's understandable how things like that could make you cautious to an extreme.

[SeaSiren]

I know! I didn't mean to gloss over your experiences. It's understandable how things like that could make you cautious to an extreme.

Don't worry I didn't take it as such. :)

[Acadia]

I agree with VeganKat's first post...the time to worry about it is when OCD starts to negatively affect your life. I spent a lot of unnecessary time obsessing about the fact that I have OCD, because I couldn't deal with the fact that something was wrong with my mind. I went to a psychiatrist and tried to battle it, but the charts and excercises she had me fill out made it worse. I soon realized that the OCD was part of me, and I wasn't going to obsess about making it go away, because really, I didn't feel that the quality of my life is diminished.

It's really all about how you feel.

[bstutzma]

OCD runs in my family. My sister is severely afflicted, has been since she was 5. She was convinced she had AIDS, did the counting things, was afraid of anything that was red, washed her hands incessantly, worried incessantly, had TONS of rituals (how to get on and off the playground, etc.) - she is medicated and is much better now.

I have I supposed a mild case of OCD - i also did the eating thing - I had 4 or 5 plates for most meals when i was a kid. I also did this weird thing when I was in the car, that I had to weave an invisible thread in the air around the trees and the telephone cables, and if it got too much "slack" in my visualization of it, it would be rather upsetting. I also didn't step on cracks. But I'm able to break all of those, pretty much. The only things I really OCD over now is whether I've locked the door when i leave the house, or whether I've closed the gas tank when I fill up. But part of that is related to my ADD, which actually makes it rather possible that I didn't do one or the other. I only have to check things once more, and then I'm fine. I still eat my food in a weird way, I have to have a flavor balance - i dont seperate my foods, but I do eat my foods in an order so that the thing that tastes best gets eaten last, but up until then I eat each item in a repeating circle over and over again till there is nothing left. But it doesnt look that weird to people watching, its not noticable. So I dont need treatment for "my OCD" - rather, its the people like my sister who can't lead normal lives without help that actually need to be concerned about it.

If counting the page numbers is so consuming that its taking away from your being able to study in the class, then you might want to consider treatment. Try hard not to do it, first though, try to break the cycle. its hard but it actually feels good afterwards.

[revelsunrise]

I'm sure this has been mentioned a couple of times already, but I want to add this again for emphasis.

Most people have some obsessive-compulsive traits. I, myself, have all sorts of crazy little things I do. It's only a DISORDER when they hinder your ability to function and live your life. Until that point, it's just "quirks."

[Pasta>Cruelty]

The number four seems to recur in these cases. I forgot to mention it in my previous post, but sometimes I have to do things four times. Not so bad, right? Problem is, then I have to do four sets of four. These are usually simple things like tossing a ball against a wall and catching it. If my muscles twitch or someone interupts, I have to start over. I think that that is more of a trait than a disorder because I like playing with the ball. However, the numbers are starting to bother me. It gives me a headache when I see numbers add up to be an even number less that 16 or a number less than 10. I try to ignore it, but I can't stop looking at the page, so I have to turn to another to fix it. Also, I really do want to wear a watch to know what time it is, but I know that I would keep looking at it all day and get distracted from more important things.

[Vegankat]

I'm a 3 and 7 person myself, because those are the so-called Numbers of Perfection.