Who else suffers from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?? No wise guys please?

Question

How does it manifest in your life? How does your family react?
Does your faith help?

Answer 1

I do. I'm able to control most of it, and I only find myself obsessing when I'm depressed or under a lot of stress.

I never realized how serious the problem was until people started pointing it out to me. That's when I realized that my canned and dry goods were arranged not only according to food type (fruits, veggies, etc.) but also according to size, color, and alphabetical order. Same thing with spices, cooking oils and flavored vinegars.

Silverware has to be lined up just so, and it must stay stacked when I close the drawer. Dishtowels, bath towels, washcloths all must be folded as only I can fold them. And they have to hang evenly. The clothes in my closets and drawers hang in, or are arranged in, the same direction. Papers must be in neat stacks. My books are lined up like soldiers in a row, arranged by size, author, type. My movie collection is arranged by type, also --drama, action, horror, comedy... and alphabetized. I create for myself so much extra work by doing this.

When I'm really stressed, I count. The patterns in the floor, nail holes in walls, syllables in a sentence. Everything must come out to an even number, or a multiple of 5. If not, I'll redo my patterns and counts until they do. Only then can I relax.

I wash my hands obsessively, and keep a bottle of hand sanitizer at each sink and in my purse. I insist that my kids carry it to school, because I'm paranoid about getting sick. I even wash my hands after each cigarette, and I usually brush my teeth after each one, also.

A friend of mine, who is also a psychiatrist, pointed my OCD out to me years ago, but I didn't believe him. Then the TV show 20/20 ran a feature on the disorder with a series of test questions afterwards. I nailed every single symptom, and then some.

I was able to overcome much of this by realizing that I am a wonderfully unique person, and completely worthy of being myself without having to be concerned with what others think of me. I gave myself permission to stop obsessing constantly, and to be forgiving of what I might see as my own faults, and the faults of others.

This was no easy feat, and required much reading, talking, crying, letting go. It worked a little too well, and I ended up as having practically no ego whatsoever. I hadn't yet learned to strike a balance, and for years I was a bit of a slob.

Now, however, I've basically found the appropriate middle ground for me. I find that I like neat cupboards because it makes things easier to find, but things are no longer arranged by label, or alphabetically. It's OK if my silverware doesn't stack, and since the towels are in a cabinet, who cares?

I still keep my books and movies in order because it saves me time when I want to read or watch something. I'm still fussy about papers.But I no longer count, or wash my hands after each cigarette. I'm sure there are other things I've missed, but I've made a huge improvement in my life.

Answer 2

I do one thing somewhat compulsively, and it never occurs to me unless I'm doing it. It's something I "must" do and then once I do it, I never think about it otherwise...

I always, always, ALWAYS end my trip up or down a flight of stairs on my right foot. So... say I've just descended from someone's second floor apartment and I'm about to step onto the pavement; I HAVE to step onto the pavement with my right foot. I even try to count the steps before I start down so that starting on either my right or left foot will allow me to end with my right foot at the end.

Actually, come to think of it, this "right foot compulsion" extends into the rest of my life. I try to step into a new room using my right foot. I try to end on my right foot even after walking over stepping stones or climbing on a ladder out of a pool. I'd even prefer that, if a foot were to become cold, it be my left instead of my right. I have no idea why I seem to "prefer" my right foot but it seems I do.

I do a great many things in multiples of 5's. In fact even on Yahoo! Answers, I don't really feel comfortable leaving until my overall score ends with a 0 or a 5. Sometimes I'll think up a question just to make it easier to end in 0 or 5. I'm not always like this and some of the time I can walk away without feeling too bothered, but often it's just... it feels like it's "better" somehow to end in a multiple of 5.

I'm a very messy person, so no one could EVER accuse me of being a neat freak or a germaphobe. I'm sure I don't actually have the condition of "Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder", but once in a while I'll catch myself needing to do things (like the right foot thing) that make no sense.

Answer 3

Actually I do. It is usually completly controllable unless I get really stressed out and then I go nuts with cleaning and everything has to be lined up and labels facing front. I get bad enough that I have scrubbed most of the floor boards with a tooth brush to get it clean enough. We have a security system I don't check the locks five times and I only check the key pad twice. Hey that's improvement lol.
Eh my family just rolls thier eyes and tries to figure out what I am so stressed about. Honestly my faith plays into it not at all

Answer 4

From what I've heard, and I think it's probably true, just about every person has *something* that could be considered as such.

I'm not OCD, though my couple little things on that boarder would be how well my toothbrush *has* to be rinsed off and clean after use...and if a dish or glass has any speck of anything on it then forget it I'm not using it, it has to be perfectly clean.

Edit: Oh, and I forgot the gear shift (or whatever it's called in an automatic) sometimes worries me that it's going to somehow magically slip out of drive...so when I'm nervous in traffic I keep putting my hand on it just to check that it's still locked into position. lol

Answer 5

Yes, I have it. And I don't mean that I just wash my hands a lot or something like that; I mean that you can give me the entire list of symptoms and I have pretty much every single one. The reason I know I have it is because it takes a lot out of my life, and gives me a great deal of stress and anxiety. You know that you have more than just a common, everyday little quirk when you consciously start to notice that the "rituals" you do every day are literally wasting a lot of your time. I don't want to get into the specifics because it's kind of embarrassing, but somehow I manage. I have good days and bad days, and I just hope for as many good days as I can get.

Answer 6

If you don't like republicans than state something more simple, Straight to the point or prove a point. Only people that are emotional and illogical attack another belief by making generalizations. There is no logic in your statement and if you believe there is, where is your proof. I think you also need to research what a republican really is because you are obviously ill informed

Answer 7

I don't feel satisfied leaving the house until I have triple (or more) checked that everything is turned off, the stove, tv, lights, etc. Same with going to bed. I usually check the locks a few times before I feel comfortable enough to sleep. My family is used to it and have just labeled me a compulsive worrier. My faith doesn't have much affect on it either way.

Now its my turn to send you a SMILE to brighten YOUR day. :-)

Answer 8

I think everyone has OCD to a certain extent... some just have it more.

I'm a little OCD about orderliness. If I walk into a classroom and all the desks are crooked, I'll straighten them out. But I think this organization/orderliness helps me more than it hurts.

Answer 9

I have a few quirks but I don't consider it OCD because it does not impede my life.

My biggest quirk is at work... each Lab Tech and myself have our own pipet stand and I always keep mine in a particular order. Sometimes, just to mess with me, my techs will switch around my pipets and if I see them do it I'll go right over and put them back 'my' way.

Answer 10

well, my whole family has it so we all understand. but i also have a lot of anxiety problems. im not ashamed of it or anything, its just a hurtle thats in my life. anyways, yah my whole family are avid worriers so we all used to each other. does my faith help? well sure. i pray all the time to not have to obsess/worry about things.