It's crazy how broad OCD is.
I have a touch of OCD when it comes to germs. I use germ-x about 30 times a day (not healthy, I know) and will rarely touch anything in a bathroom that is not my own. Public places freak me out (movie theaters, dressing rooms, the gym, public swimming pools, etc) and I have had to learn to just block my thoughts to be able to fully enjoy myself. I do know that compared to other people who are OCD about germs, my case isn't bad at all.
My boyfriend is OCD about having a schedule. He has a schedule for everything and likes to plan out every little detail. If things don't go as planned, he gets anxiety. This is something he really dislikes about himself. He also has IBS so this plays a huge factor in trying to keep that under control. If he sticks to a schedule, it helps immensely with his IBS.
My boss is OCD about orderliness and checking things 100 different times. He is constantly arranging papers/stacks on his desk to where they line up perfectly. He also will ask me about the same thing over and over. Or he will check to make sure we got something done at least 5 or 6 times. It drives my coworkers and I crazy.
What are you OCD about?
@pokie45: Actually OCD is not that broad. It is a disorder with very definitive characteristics required to have the diagnosis.
It sounds like you are particular, or worry, about certain things. OCD interferes with everyday function.
I know that your probably know this, but as someone who actually has OCD, it is a little annoying when people use the word so casually. Granted, if you understood the true meaning of the phrase, you would probably have OCD, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
The hangers in my closet all have to face the same way If they don't I get panicky. I don't know why.
When I go to the grocery store, I need to have produce with produce, meats with meats, dog food together... eveything needs to be sectioned off, especially at the checkout line. FI thinks its funny to mix everything together, I just can't help it. lol. And I have a thing about numbers. I don't like odd numbers, except for 3, my softball number. My wedding date falls in that OCD. lol. I think those are my two biggest things. Oh and I have to have things a certain way or if I want a certain something, I can not substitute unless I really have no choice. It makes me uneasy. lol
@Stoppy321: I didn't mean to actually say I'm "diagnosed" with OCD. You're right, I was using it very casually. But I have done a small amount of background searching and I know that a phobia of germs is a symptom. And I know that the seveirty and symptoms of OCD can vary.
Maybe I should have posted "What are you extremely anal about?" instead but somehow that probably would have offended someone somehow as well.
@pokie45: Severity and symptoms do vary, but part of the diagnosis is that it interferes with function. It's a neccesary part. It also is a "foreign" part of the person's thoughts. They do not see it as part of their personality. That is what seperates OCD from OCPD.
I get it's used very casually in conversation, and normally it doesn't bother me. It was just the way it was used in the OP. I'm not offended, but I do think it is important to portray mental illness correctly. Plus, it just sounds silly. What if I said, "Gosh, I'm so Cancer about that."
Honestly, though, I know you didn't mean anything negative by it. I just think it perpetuates a false steroptype.
@Stoppy321: Thank you for saying that. My brother has been diagnosed with OCD, and it seriously irks me to no end to hear people say "I'm so OCD" about this. Even though I lived with him at the very height of his illness, I can't imagine what it would be like to actually have OCD, and I hate the term being thrown around so casually.
I am anal about making checklists. I can't go into a store without one, not because I'll go off list but because I won't get anything at all. I have to do a lot of my morning routine in a certain order or else I have to start over.
Yes my eyelashes. I take tweezers and seperate them and am constantly noticing if one is out of place of getting caught on another.
Also spelling. It makes me physically cringe when I see spelling errors.
Crooked pictures on the wall. I will straighten them no matter where I am.
Just for differential diagnostic purposes, I like to encourage others to check out OCPD (vs OCD) - many of the neatnick tendencies people like to describe as OCD actually fit more closely into a personality disorder :)
@MrsWrangler: You said it much more eloquently. Plus, it can never be said enough times!
My closet. I need everything color coordinated.
Nic-nacks around the apartment need to be neat.
Labels need to be facing front.
I used to think I had mild OCD because chewing noises make me crazy. Also, hearing neighbors make noise (walking heavily, hearing their music, etc). any of these things seriously make my blood boil and often I have to leave the area or I would nearly panic.
I recently learned that it's called Misophonia, and that currently there is not really any therapy to help it :(
@janie-janie: OMG. I can't believe I've never heard of this! When I lived in an apartment, (and even now, in a house, though to a lesser extent) I would feel my blood pressure rise and I would get SO ANGRY at certain sounds from neighbors. (Walking, talking, bass, clinking bottles). I would be sitting in my house hissing "Did you HEAR THAT" to DH, who would be completely oblivious. I told him it was like certain sounds were stuck on LOUD and I just couldn't stop hearing them.
It got so bad, that at one apartment complex, we just left the house every Friday and Saturday night, because I couldn't handle it.
I'm in IT, most IT people have at least a touch of OCD - makes us good at what we do!
Yes, I constantly check and recheck my door before I leave the apt. If I haven't checked it exactly 3 times (or forget how many times I checked it) I have to run upstairs and check it again. I physically cannot leave and will be late until I check the door 3 times.
I have to hit the lock button on my car doors 3 times when I get out of the car, even thought I know it's locked I have to do it.
I am big about alphabetizing and having things (like books) be by size (dvds are alphabetized but my books have to be by size).I can tell when people move these things of mine and they are out of order and I will redo everything if 1 thing is out of order to make sure they are all in order. I missed a birthday party once because someone took out a dvd and put it back in the wrong spot...I had to redo them all.
I know the actions that I do annoy others because it takes so much times and it interferes with my life on a daily basis and I hate not being in control of things as much as I'd like (like at work) but I have to deal with it. I've been on meds for it and recently went off them and have tried other things to control my compulsions. It's not fun.
I would say I am about a few things. I have to have the tag on my blanket in the bottom left corner. I will literally move the blanket around, in the dark, until I can make sure it's turned the right way, LOL. I also group things together when I'm checking out at the grocery store.
OCD can be hoarding too. So not always clean and tidy and neat.
I am not OCD but if you look at the way I am living right now my ex-FI (soon to be) is OCD in the hoarding department.
yes, these are tires in the livingroom, there wasnt' any space in the spare room, balcony or the 2 lockers in the basement.
@happyface: Interestingly, hoarding disorder is about to split out into its own diagnosis in the DSM5, coming out this spring. +1 to its validity as seriously intrusive.
@happyface: WOW you weren't kidding in your post about leaving when you said he was a hoarder, tires in the livingroom that's nuts! Just think tomorrow is Friday and you will begin anew 
@Stoppy321: +1
I don't actually have OCD, but I am really particular about making our bed perfectly every morning!
I have to check my hair straightener to make sure its uplugged at least 3 times. And I have to touch all the knobs on the stove to make sure they are in the off position before I leave the house. I have a fear of burning my house down.
@Stoppy321: Not trying to hijack, but I'm totally with you on this. I don't have OCD, but ADHD has been a lifelong struggle for me and I want to cry and yell whenever someone says "I'm so ADD right now!" because a) ADD isn't an adjective and b) I'd kill to only have attention defecit disorder 'right now' :)
@Stoppy321: I have to agree. No offense to you, OP, but what you describe sounds pretty normal.
When I was a kid I washed my hands until they were raw and bleeding.
I still have OCD tendencies these days and I have to control them each and every day. It isn't fun and I have my good days and my bad days.
Anxiety sucks.
I have a few little ocd issues, but one main one, i have an ocd with numbers.
It's hard to explain, but I will try.
- Volume buttons in particular, the tv and car radio
It has to be on an even number, but It can't be on 24 or 26 because it's too close to 25, so it has to go on 25. 22 and 28 is fine. Odd numbers are only good if it ends in a 5. I drive everyone crazy checking the tv volume to make sure it's not on 24, but 25 or on 22. i hate it. it drives me insane too. if the stupid tv's and car stereos didn't have numbers, none of this would bother me LOL
@pokie45: I'm OCD about germs like you. I'm obsessed with hand sanitizer and I dont ever want to touch other peoples hands. I'm also OCD when people are sick and I stay far far away from them.
My biggest OCDness is with food though. I dont like anyone to prepare my food for me except myself and fiance and If I do go to a restaurant I need to SEE them preparing my food before I get it. I honestly wont go to this one sub place anymore becaues I cant physically see them making my sub and it makes me totaly OCD'd out!!
I'm "OCD" about being on time. No, being early. For me, being "on time" is being LATE! I need to get everywhere 5-10 (sometimes up to 30). In order to achieve this, I pad all my travel time.
It's not a negative thing, but it can sometimes give me MAJOR anxiety, expecially because DH is the tardy type....
I don't know if I would consider it OCD, but... At work, my programs must be in the same order on my computer, and my windows that I work with should be where I put them every day.. The only exception is for the one, if I have to move it to click something, then it goes back...
@Quietserenity: yep, it sucks. I currently live in a really quiet place and freelance, so many of my daily issues are resolved. but it still impacts my life when I leave my apartment, and I hate it! plus, I totally dread the day I have to move out of this apartment.
I've literally moved 12 times in 12 years, that's how weird I am about neighbors!
@HappyFace- OH SH!T...have you called Hoarders tv show? That looks so unsafe and blah. I am glad you are removing yourself from the situtation, you can do better and will do better!
So with everyone who gets annoyed when people use terms like OCD, or ADHD or ADD casually. I work with young people with these conditions and when words get chucked around like that they tend to become watered down to the point the meaning is lost. People come outmwith things like, i always have to check the door is locked and think its OCD. No, thats just sensible. It would be a bit like twisting your ankle and claiming to be paraplegic, or getting a blocked ear and claiming to be deaf. OCD is neurological and affects so much in a persons life. OP, it's really refreshing that you were open to people pointing it out. That's cool.
To answer the question though... I have Dyscalculia syndrome and borderline autism which encompasses elements OCD. When I was little I was obsessed with arranging my toys in to straight lines. I can't be around wonky lines. Same goes for bright colours, messy patterns, things with too much going on. If im in a room with one of those statement walls with all the swirls, it feels as though my brain cannot focus and I cant find my thoughts. Anything that can clutter my brain is an issue. As I've gotten older, the OCD traits have switched from arranging my toys in straight lines to ensuring the duvet in the bed is equally spread on both sides, so no one side is further over than the other. I've got from lining up toys to lining up my duvet.
yup! The relationships with sounds is very closely linked with conditions such as OCD. Other things to watch out for is relationships with colours. I don't mean like you see blue and you think of the sea, and you see yellow and you think of the sun. I meam like certain colours incite feelings in you. for example, I worked with a client who had this with the colour yellow. It made him feel uncontrollably sick and anxious to see yellow.
The connection between sounds, OCD and colours is because OCD can almost creep over onto the mild end of the autistic spectrum.
Meditation is one the best ways to drown out the colours, mess and sounds of life. :D
@anahappilyeverafter: OCD can almost creep over onto the mild end of the autistic spectrum.
oh! I have never heard that before, but I've certainly thought about it. like, when I see a list of Asperger's behavioral traits, I feel like I can relate to some of them - but on a very mild level. (not just in regards to my noise problem but other things too.)
I hope I don't offend anybody who knows somebody who is Autistic and I don't mean to undermine it in any way. It's just weird to think things that I've never said out loud and have a different person make that connection too.
I love this thread, I feel like I can find people who understand me.
OCD is actually an anxiety disorder. It's much more common than people believe it is. Most people have some tendancies that seem like it, but these quirks are severe enough, or don't affect their lives enough to meet the criteria in the DSM-IV-TR to be OCD.
That being said I have tons of these. My FI thinks I should get checked out for it. I checked the door a million times to make sure it's locked. Even then, sometimes I have to go back to check on it again. The weirdest thing is if you speak in three syllabues or in muliples of three (no matter how quiet) I will always wake up. If it's not in three or muliples of three I won't. FI swears it always works. I have a thing for three and it's multiples. That's just a few of them...
@alwaysmsh: if you speak in three syllabues or in muliples of three (no matter how quiet) I will always wake up.
that's a new one!
I knew a guy who could not stand the feeling of pulling shoe laces through eyelets. it did not matter what the lace or eyelet were made of.
@alwaysmsh: Yea, OCD's lifetime prevalence is about 2.5%, I believe, but OCPD is greater. Based on what people have said in this thread, I can see why! Most of these appear to be quirks that would fit more into the needs-things-just-so personality disorder area (or are just reasonable things to do, like check to see if your stove knobs are off!). That is of course barring the hoarding case, which I think is super interesting. The public ideal of OCD seems somewhat disparate from the actual criteria, IMO.
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