Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

**maz33** · 08-02-2008 06:52 PM

It has been brought to my attention that I exhibit a few signs of OCD-like behaviour, as follows:

When making a sandwich I will turn over the top slice of bread before buttering so that the two go back together perfectly (anyone know what I'm on about?), also the butter must be spread right to the edge of each slice- especially on toast!

Another one is that the end of the loo roll must hang over the outside- wherever I am in a loo, if the roll is not hanging 'correctly' I will take it off its holder and replace it 'the right way round'!!

My bathroom towels have to be folded in a certain way, oh and clothes do too. I also have to iron my tea towels and bed linen although that's quite normal isn't it?

There are more but I seem to have forgotten them. Will try to remember...

So do you have an OCD? Or any strange habits that might be considered by some to be verging on the obsessive?

Please share, I can't be the only one

**CHANDLERS WISH** · 08-02-2008 07:34 PM

Congratulations firstly, I note you've reached 100 posts, Silver woman.

I wonder if it truly stems from our up-bringing?

My Mother was a pedantic cleaner, she would also iron T-Towels but not sheets. There was not a speck of dust anywhere and things had their place.

She gave up being "so pedantic" many years ago... But is still house proud and even has an exact time we all should eat when there is a family do at her home, prepares for that exact time, where as i am lay back, drink, enjoy, then eat.

I recall my routine vacuum cleaning or carpet sweeping "shhh" where i would just turn it on and do nothing, "rebellious little one", still am.

I am very house proud, i do like things to be in the right place, and folded but I'm not pedantic regarding which way it faces, has to be perfect.

As for butter on the toast, well why have butter unless it is spread all over, including the ends, it doesn't taste as good.

But, as i said i think it is a makeup from up-bringing it will gob smack me if you come back and say that your mother was never clean, as i have talked about my Mother to people over the years and that was their verdict...

As a result, i just stick to the ahh give a ......over things that aren't so important like toilet rolls facing the right way "yep" i used to do that bit too, lol, oh and sometimes make that little V in the middle so it looks like a Hotel loo roll,.... But that is just being proud and wanting to make things look good, well that is why i used to do it.

I think it's grand to ease up a bit, be rebellious, go on, you can do it, laugh that you left it.... Or else it can eat at you when people do it the wrong way.

CW

**talk time** · 08-02-2008 10:11 PM

What you are describing is not uncommon. A lot of people obsessively clean and like things a certain way.

In true definition OCD has three parts to it as it's title suggests. There has to be an Obsessive thought, you do the Compulsive behaviour so your obsessive thought doesn't come true and it has to effect the way you live your life for it to truely be a Disorder.

An example would be an Obsessive thought like 'something bad will happen, my kids will get sick or something bad will happen to me if I don't do this. You haven't described it in these terms. Then because of these Obsessive thoughts the person does Compulsive behaviours like the toilet roll thing, folding and ironing things in a certain way, need to butter bread exactly. This then is only a disorder if it effects other areas of your life negatively, like if you couldn't go to work because these things all had to be done first.

Ask yourself what do you think would happen if you didn't do it. If the answer is that it would just make you less comfortable then there is no Obsessive thought attached to it. You are just obsessive over the compulsive behaviour. I hope you followed this long winded explanation lol.

From what you have described I wouldn't say you truely have OCD you just have certain ways you like things done. If these behaviours don't bother you keep doing them. If they do try and resist doing just one and see how that goes.

Also from my person experience I find that if my life is in termoil in other areas I try to do everything else more 'perfectly' so that my life feels like it is in less kaos.

In my previous marriage, which was not happy, my house was like a show home and I fussed too much unnecessarily over the kids. Now I am in a happy relationship I am more likely to let things slide a bit, although still house proud but not constantly trying for 'perfection'. This is more about needing some some area in our life that is not in kaos. I wonder if this rings true for you also.

PS: I do the toilet roll thing too, but know that this was a taught thing from my childhood, so I also very much agree with what CW says about learnt behaviours. I am able to leave it though now, but sometimes still do it. It would be interesting for me to track what is happening in my life when I really feel I want to do this. The mind is a funny thing it is programed to help us put our lives into some form of equalibrium.

Sorry about such a long post. tt

**maz33** · 08-03-2008 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by talk time

What you are describing is not uncommon. A lot of people obsessively clean and like things a certain way.

...Also from my person experience I find that if my life is in termoil in other areas I try to do everything else more 'perfectly' so that my life feels like it is in less kaos.

...In my previous marriage, which was not happy, my house was like a show home and I fussed too much unnecessarily over the kids. Now I am in a happy relationship I am more likely to let things slide a bit, although still house proud but not constantly trying for 'perfection'. This is more about needing some some area in our life that is not in kaos. I wonder if this rings true for you also.

Thanks, your reply makes perfect sense, I have no OCD but what you say about a life in chaos kind of rings true for me. Very interesting

CW- Thanks for the reassurance... I always new I was 'normal' but people doubted me

**Fire(m)** · 08-03-2008 04:58 PM

I have OCD. There are several behaviors that I feel compelled to do. First of which is do you remember that saying "if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back"? Well, I've NEVER been able to step on a crack. This means that I often times will walk around areas where I think it will be difficult to walk over a crack. I do occasionally step on a crack when it's absolutely unavoidable (as in a bathroom with 1" tiles), but I am compelled to pray about that. Oh did I mention that my Mom DIED 10 years ago? And I still can't let go of the step on a crack thing.

Another behavior is that I do all the grocery shopping for my house (and about 2/3 of the cooking). I put all the spices up in alphabetical order in the cabinet and I also do that with my pantry (canned food etc.). I do this in the refrigerator as much as can be done and I always face all labels forward (like you see in the store). The reason I obsess over this is that I feel if I don't do this then the food will make us sick and kill us.

There are a million or so other things, involving light switches, garage doors, locking the house, turing off appliances, WASHING MY HANDS 100 x a day, etc., but I try to have a full life anyway. Oh, another thing I do is I have to check my tire pressure on my motorcycle every time before riding it...I can't wait for that to spread over to my cars as well...GEEZ.

BTW, I am unmedicated and I work with this as best as I can.

Bump...this is a very interesting topic. I'm curious as to whether or not there are others affected by OCD.
Cheers.

**maz33** · 08-06-2008 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by Fire(m)

I have OCD. There are several behaviors that I feel compelled to do. First of which is do you remember that saying "if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back"? Well, I've NEVER been able to step on a crack. This means that I often times will walk around areas where I think it will be difficult to walk over a crack. I do occasionally step on a crack when it's absolutely unavoidable (as in a bathroom with 1" tiles), but I am compelled to pray about that. Oh did I mention that my Mom DIED 10 years ago? And I still can't let go of the step on a crack thing.

Another behavior is that I do all the grocery shopping for my house (and about 2/3 of the cooking). I put all the spices up in alphabetical order in the cabinet and I also do that with my pantry (canned food etc.). I do this in the refrigerator as much as can be done and I always face all labels forward (like you see in the store). The reason I obsess over this is that I feel if I don't do this then the food will make us sick and kill us.

There are a million or so other things, involving light switches, garage doors, locking the house, turing off appliances, WASHING MY HANDS 100 x a day, etc., but I try to have a full life anyway. Oh, another thing I do is I have to check my tire pressure on my motorcycle every time before riding it...I can't wait for that to spread over to my cars as well...GEEZ.

BTW, I am unmedicated and I work with this as best as I can.
Cheers.

Ok fire, you win

haha athough I do obsess over how my groceries are 'displayed' too.

It's interesting to hear about your various compulsions, makes you wonder where this kind of behaviour stems from, doesn't it?

Are you generally aware of your behaviour at the time or do you think to yourself afterwards "geez why did i do all that again?"

**Joy** · 08-06-2008 11:19 AM

hi Fire & maz a behavior therapist could help you put these mental anxieties to rest. They will help you take maladaptive behavior and make it adaptive. The will help you extinguish this behavior if you find it negativly impacts your life.

if your behavior doesn't bother you then no worries keep enjoying life!

**Fire(m)** · 08-06-2008 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by maz33

Are you generally aware of your behaviour at the time or do you think to yourself afterwards "geez why did i do all that again?"

I am absolutely, acutely aware of my behavior, and I try to defeat it regularly. Like putting a coke in the frig sideways and walking away or attempting to (almost never works). I usually come back to it later because I cannot stand it.

This doesn't stop me from living a full life (I'm fully functional) and having fun, but it does encompass a lot of stuff. I use "stick" deodorant. I have to touch the stick to my body 6 times for each underarm or it drives me nuts to the extent that I would have to take a shower again and do it right.

The hand washing is a big deal and particularly when I cook. I have to wash my hands after doing ANYTHING. Seriously I wouldn't doubt it if I wash my hands 30 times when cooking ANYTHING!

Some of the compulsion is a result of trying to make things perfect. Sometimes it doesn't seem as threatening that something bad will happen, but that what I intend to be perfect will not be so. For some reason the perfection thing seems to be overwhelmingly important to me in some ways.

Y'all would really laugh at a lot of the stuff I do.
Cheers.

An additional thought...I think this involves balance a lot too (like with the deodorant) ...everything has to be even, or balanced. We have light switches on each end of the hallway. Ultimately, for me, when the light is on, both switches should be pointing upward, and when the light is off both should be pointing downward. If it doesn't work that way, I have to fix it before I can move on. My wife doesn't know about this compulsion, so I am doing this a lot!

I think this is my wife's fault. It's because she is a libra (the scales) ...balance...you get it?!?!?! Hahahaha! I knew someday I'd figure out a way to blame my wife for it!!!!!!!!!! Yay! Y'all helped me figure that out! Hahahahaha! Just joking.

Fire <~~~heads down the hall to fix the dang lightswitch for the 3rd time this evening.

**prayerbear** · 08-11-2008 08:52 PM

I used to be a real clean freak and cleaned the house 3-4 hours a day! (on Zoloft) but with psychotherapy I only clean the bathrooms once a week. Everything else can just site there-dust especially.I did it to deal with things I found scary as a kid. It is torture being off medication for OCD. I had an inner critic that WOULD NOT SHUT UP!

Now I have some annoying compulsion: I pick at my scalp constantly to the point scabs cover every where there's skin! It looks bad! My psychiatrist recomended revia(for addictive drinking) but I tore up the prescription sheet and I will see what else he has lined up!

Does anyone else have this problem and what meds are you taking for skin-picking?

prayerbear

**prayerbear** · 08-11-2008 08:53 PM

I used to be a real clean freak and cleaned the house 3-4 hours a day! (on Zoloft) but with psychotherapy I only clean the bathrooms once a week. Everything else can just site there-dust especially.I did it to deal with things I found scary as a kid. It is torture being off medication for OCD. I had an inner critic that WOULD NOT SHUT UP!

Now I have some annoying compulsion: I pick at my scalp constantly to the point scabs cover every where there's skin! It looks bad! My psychiatrist recomended revia(for addictive drinking) but I tore up the prescription sheet and I will see what else he has lined up!(I was scared of revia's side effects!)

Does anyone else have this problem and what meds are you taking for skin-picking?

prayerbear

Thread: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Display

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Born OCD

Born OCD

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions