New to forum...do I have OCD?

Ralphie

New member
Hi everyone, i've been reading around for a while and decided I needed to get something off my chest. Seems like everyone is very knowledgeable and friendly around here...

Anyway, I've been dealing with something for about 7-8 years now. I'm not sure if it can be classified as OCD, so I've been hesitant to get help.

I tend to be very superstitious, and have this idea that if something is not the "right" way, my day won't go well. So in the morning, I have to make sure that the light switch is in the up position, and there's basically this routine I go through. It doesn't take long, but I'd rather not have to go through it. Another thing I do is, when I leave my car, I have to turn the volume all the way down.

I also deal with this issue with arranging things. For example, if a book is placed in a certain position in my room, and I feel it causes my life "to go well" (i.e. good things happen), I feel great amounts of distress if it is moved. (like if it is moved, the good things will cease to happen).

I know that its logically impossible for something such as a book on the ground can somehow control how my life goes, but its hard for me to tell my brain that...

I've talked to my friend (a psychology grad student) about this, and he passed it off as superstitions, and that everyone has little rituals. He also told me that it would not be OCD unless the rituals take up a large part of my day. (They don't, I just wish I could live "normally" without having to deal and worry about all these issues.)

I'm kinda hesitant about going through therapy, taking SSRI's, etc. I guess its sort of a pride kind of thing. Is it difficult to try and deal with these compulsions by myself? Has anyone here done it successfully, or is it better to get help?

Thanks.
 

durda_dan

Well-known member
OCD tends to feed of superstitions. liek not stepping on cracks or tossing salt over your sholder. for example, so it probably is OCD.
 

getbornagain

Well-known member
Yeah. OCD changes over time, I used to be very superstitious and do weird ass shit like that. One thing I had is if I touched one corner of a table I'd have to do a lap around the whole thing and touch each corner LOL

I bet you have a mild case; can never hurt to see a psychologist right?
 

krfoss

Active member
Hey there. OCD can take on mild to extreme forms. Your psych grad friend is probably thinking of the subjective "causes marked disturbance in social or occupational functioning" section of the DSM to be his own opinion of what is "marked disturbance." When in reality, it is your opinion. If you are having problems with it like it is causing you distress, and you could like to change it, then it has become a probem. It never hurts to see someone about it.

Regarding SSRI's, etc., not everyone who goes through treatment for OCD (or other anxiety disorders) require medication. It mainly serves to bring your anxiety down to a managable place so that you can work on the behavioral treatment and the cognitive restructuring (changing your beliefs about your books, volume knob, light switch, etc). See a psychiatrist first before taking this as Gospel truth, but meds may not be neccessary in all cases.

Anyhow, good luck and let us know how it goes.
 

Ultrablue

New member
The people who have posted and explained that OCD is different for everyone, with varying forms of severity are 100% correct. It certainly sounds to me like you do display some definate ritualistic behavior, however whether or not this behavior is significantly interfering in your life remains to be seen at this time.

For this reason, I'd suggest that you simply give yourself a break and remember that even if you DO in fact have OCD, it isn't the end of the world (though it sure can seem like it), and that there's tons of help out there if you wish to seek it out at some later date.

I challenge you to spend only one day without indulging in your little secret rituals. This may seem rather daunting, but it would be an excellent way to determine just how big of a problem this is, if it is a problem at all. Though it may seem uncomfortable and just all together "wrong" - you WILL be better off for it, if only to see how much stress is created when you avoid doing one of your usual rituals.

Best of luck, and keep us posted.
 

isnteasy

Member
I'm almost half way through this OCD book that I had to buy because my OCD was ruining my life. It explains this very type of OCD in it where you feel like something bad is going to happen if you don't do something like tap your hand on the door as you pass .. or something like that. In my opinion it is definitely OCD. I actually used to display the same type of urges a long time ago.

What you need to do if you want it to get better and any good therapist will go through this with you but you need to practice Cognative behavioral therapy and ERP (Exposure response Prevention) basically, you need to expose yourself to the distressful things such as putting something "out of place" on purpose and let the anxiety be there withOUT fixing or rearranging it. (the anxiety won't be there forever, it WILL diminish) but you have to face it head on and eventually enough times doing that will cause it to slowly leave you alone. This is the process of habituation.. your brain will slowly start to adapt to that and the "error" messages that it's sending will go away or become so mild that you hardly even notice it.

I've been practicing this for about 2 weeks now (because I kinda just learned about it) and i've already gotten a LOT better..

It is HELL at first because you won't feel like you are able to do it with the anxiety but if that's the case and the anxiety is too strong, then WAIT as long as you can to put everything back in it's place.. and the next time, wait a little bit longer, then a little bit longer.. until you can leave things alone permanently.

Remember, OCD doesn't mean yer crazy.. it's just short circuit issue in the brain and it requires us to change our behavior with ERP and in time, we can become the people we want to be.
 
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