Is this considered OCD? Please help!!

[Blue Teardrops]

I feel like "you're so OCD" is thrown around quite a lot. My mom called me OCD the other day about wanting things clean, but I know I'm not really OCD about it. I just like to make sure my habitat is clean and comfortable. Now, the point I am making is, I don't want to call myself OCD for the sake of calling myself that. But, I want to know if the following is something that would place me in the OCD category:

Since losing my hair 10+ years ago, I think about my hair on a constant basis and always compare it to other women's hair. And, when I am not consciously/actively thinking about it, I am compulsively touching the back of my head. I have read elsewhere that women who suffer hair loss constantly touch the area where they lost their hair. I even think touching the back of my head has made it noticeably thinner. I am not bald, just very thin. But if I keep touching it, I am afraid that I will eventually rub all the hair away.

I don't really know why I touch it constantly. My mom gets angry with me a lot for touching the area. But I can't, absolutely can't control it. And she doesn't seem to get that. I don't know what to do. I will do it without even realizing it, and it's almost as if it serves as a pacifier or something. And I am so stressed about it! ::

 

[Dudley]

Well, do you feel like something bad is going to happen if you don't do this? Does it have to be done in a certain way? Another thing to consider is if this interferes with your normal activities. If it does for more than an hour then it does sound like compulsive behavior.

Hope this helped, best of luck

 

[Blue Teardrops]

I don't feel like something bad will happen if I do it, although, it still reduces anxiety. I have to admit, when I was younger, I would do things (not repetitive) because this little voice inside my head would say "you will die if you don't do X" or "your mom will die if you don't do X," where "X" would be something as simple as making sure I turn off a light before I leave the room. My anxiety would be increased if I failed to do X because I was afraid the bad thing would happen. But, these were not repetitive, ritualistic acts like is seen in many OCD sufferers, like turning on and off the light 10 times. But the thoughts were there. I don't tend to do this as much any more, even though the same thoughts of something bad happening are still there. I am not sure what this means for me now with touching the back of my head. Simply touching the back of my head can't possibly "interfere" with normal activities because I carry my head around with me wherever I go, but I do it in public too and that causes added stress. But, my thoughts are so obsessive that it does interfere at school. I will fail to listen to what the professor is saying because all I can think about is my hair. I tried sitting in front of the class because if I sit behind people, I am constantly comparing my hair to theirs....however, this did not work, because sitting in front of the class, I obsessively worry if people are staring at the back of my head and judging me for it. I am just really confused because I am 'obsessive' about my hair, and 'compulsive' about touching it and looking at it in the mirror. I have read about the symptoms of OCD, but the name appears misleading since the name itself seems to apply to me, but yet, I don't have the ritualistic tendencies that are connected with bad thoughts.

I guess I'll have to talk to my counselor about all this and see what she says.

 

[Blue Teardrops]

I have also thought BDD may be the answer, but I didn't know how much BDD and OCD are related.

 

[Kenn McGee]

To me, it sounds fairly normal to be concerned about hair loss. I started balding in my early 20s and thought about it a lot for a decade! Your obsession/fear is natural and in response to something real that happened. If your thoughts were heading toward intrusive, constant and you developed rituals to cope that would be different. If it Doesn't seriously interfere with your life, your concerns seem normal and appropriate. Just my 2 cents...