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It's common sense to make sure potentially dangerous appliances are turned off. The occasional "double check" of somethng is fine. When you are compulsively checking and repeating patterns and it interferes with your life, it's heading towards OCD.
"Checking things" is only one of many behaviors that fall into the category of OCD. It can range from setting your spoon down a certain way, to keeping things in certain pockets. The OP did not imply in any way that what he did interfered with his life, and there is no basis in his remarks to justify telling him that his life is in danger and he should immediately schedule appointments with very expensive therapeutic professionals. .
I probably have more OCDs than most people, but having gone blind, the tendency is more of a help than a hindrance in being able to keep an orderly household in which I know where things are.
And Yes, everybody does have some structures in their life about which another person would observe that they are obsessive or compulsive. Like throwing away food the day after its best-by date, or balancing their checkbook right to the penny, or changing their oil the minute it hits 3,000 miles. All of which I would consider to be non-productive OCDs, but still harmless and not symptomatic of terminal psychopathology warranting intervention..
Hi, I'm the 'OP' Jay. Yes, I do have to check things constantly and in a certain order. Do you really need to know all of my quirks? I count and check things so much that I'm always late for everything! I know it must be amusing for some, but not for me.
OP, you probably do have a mild case of OCD. You might want to discuss it with your mental health professional the next time you see him or her. There is medication for it. One of the worst aspects of OCD is anxiety. It can lead a person to perform repetitive tasks ad nauseum, because they are unsure that it was done "correctly." It can be extremely debilitating, because you may spend hours checking and rechecking things. You need to turn off that alarm portion of your brain before it drives you into further ritualization.
I have a habit of being very conscientious as to where I put my tongue in my mouth. I feel like if I don't hold it in the right place, I may accidentally say something that could somehow alter my life. I also get really bad thoughts out of the blue sometimes. It's bad when I'm trying to interact with people, because these thoughts keep interrupting, and sometimes I have to ritualize right in front of the person I'm talking to! I'm usually repeating something to myself, so I cover my mouth to pretend I'm yawning. There have been days I've spent most of the day ritualizing, going back, holding my tongue, talking to myself, etc. Sometimes I also hold water or air in my mouth to make sure my tongue doesn't move. No one has caught me doing this at work, luckily (at least not to my knowledge) but I seem to have very little control of when these awful obsessive anxiety inducing thoughts strike. They really do keep me from leading a normal life and force me to stay inside and not interact with people at times, because I'm afraid I'm going to have to ritualize in front of them to calm myself down and then freak them out and make them think I have something really serious going on. Yikes. This has been going on since I was about 13 years old. I sometimes get really angry at people who don't have this problem, too. Telling me to, "snap out of it" might not make me like you. These thoughts that I want to avoid are almost as automatic as breathing at times.
Then, there are the people who think everyone who suffers OCD are clean freaks. I must have missed the memo. My house frequently looks like a disaster area, because I can't get out of this "mental zone" long enough to interact with my surroundings. Plus, I get tired easily; it may be mental fatigue.
They are called "intrusive thoughts". I laughed when I read your post--not to be mean, but because I know exactly how you feel. I have a fairly responsible management job, and I'm often talking with people in meetings and whatnot and in the back of my head their heads are being chopped off or some other bloody scene. If they could see inside my head, they'd run. No, you don't have control over them. And OCD is an anxiety disorder and then the rituals and intrusive thoughts create more anxiety.
Ever drive down the street and maybe you hit a bump or a pothole and suddenly became convinced that you just struck and killed another person? I have done this many times and turned around to go back and make sure there is no one lying in the road. And then checked the newspaper the next day to make sure that no one found the person I killed lying dead alongside the road. And checked my car several times for signs of blood.
For many of us, the rituals take place in the mind or as in the case of your tongue, are not readily discernable to other people. I am not a clean freak, either, nor have I ever constantly washed my hands. But I count everything. I have to count everything. When I was a little girl, I had to take exactly 18 steps (fifty years later, I still remember the number) to walk down the hall from the living room to my bedroom or I would cause someone to die.
With therapy, I did learn to manage the intrusive thoughts somewhat--not stop them, because I can't--but I sometimes understand where they are coming from, and I can usually relegate them to the back of my brain.
Here is an example of understanding them. When I was going through my divorce, my daughter was about 8 years old. I would tuck her in at night, and kiss her, and see her smashed in the road, run over by a bus. I mean smashed--her head ground into the pavement, blood soaking the road. Pretty f'ing disturbing to keep thinking this about your beloved child every night. Then you get that part where you fear your thoughts are going to make this happen...ugh.
At the time, I was in therapy and seeing a psychiatrist for meds. I had talked to the psychiatrist a bit about my "stuff", even though he wasn't my therapist. I had fifteen-minute appointments with him and all he had to do was write a script, and he liked to talk. It finally dawned on me what the intrusive thoughts with my daughter were all about, and I brought it to him and he was so proud of me for figuring it out.
I was going through a divorce. My ex was an alcoholic and a drug user and out of his mind at this time, and I just didn't want to deal with him anymore--but I had to, because we had a daughter. She was my connection to him--except for her, I could have just gotten rid of him. So, in my mind, I was "killing" her so that I didn't have to deal with him anymore. The unconscious mind has no sense of right and wrong or acceptable or unacceptable thoughts. Intrusive thoughts are actually a very creative way of dealing with anxiety, but it also can make the anxiety worse when you wonder WTF is wrong with you.
Explore your intrusive thoughts and see if you can find out sometimes what they are telling you on yourself.
Hi, I'm the 'OP' Jay. Yes, I do have to check things constantly and in a certain order. Do you really need to know all of my quirks? I count and check things so much that I'm always late for everything! I know it must be amusing for some, but not for me.
It's a problem when it interferes with your life. It sounds as if it is.
Hi, I'm the 'OP' Jay. Yes, I do have to check things constantly and in a certain order. Do you really need to know all of my quirks? I count and check things so much that I'm always late for everything! I know it must be amusing for some, but not for me.
It clearly sounds as though your rituals are causing you pain and distress, and getting in the way of your living life. Though no one can make a snap judgment here, it sounds very much to me like OCD. As said it might good for you to consult a therapist.
I think that for people suffering from OCD trying to attribute some significance to the thoughts can sometimes be the antithesis of therapeutic - since the mind can often generate useless noise, and that OCD obsessions will invariably morph. OCD, though it might look like it as first glance (and it will do its damndest to convince you that it is), isn't a thought disorder, it's an anxiety disorder.
I think that for people suffering from OCD trying to attribute some significance to the thoughts can sometimes be the antithesis of therapeutic - since the mind can often generate useless noise, and that OCD obsessions will invariably morph. OCD, though it might look like it as first glance (and it will do its damndest to convince you that it is), isn't a thought disorder, it's an anxiety disorder.
Yes, mentioned that in my post. It's important to know that.
The thoughts are just the way the anxiety manifests itself. They have no power, and lots of "useless noise". Also important if you are like I once was and thought my thoughts could cause things to happen. I can only see where they are coming from sometimes if I sort of detach myself from myself and look at myself as a sort of specimen. It took years to learn to do that.
And Yes, everybody does have some structures in their life about which another person would observe that they are obsessive or compulsive. Like throwing away food the day after its best-by date, or balancing their checkbook right to the penny, or changing their oil the minute it hits 3,000 miles. All of which I would consider to be non-productive OCDs, but still harmless and not symptomatic of terminal psychopathology warranting intervention..
Making casual checks and having structure is NOT OCD. Balancing a checkbook to the penny is being financially responsible. Changing the oil in their car every 3000 miles is being responsible and maintaining one's auto warranty.
Sorry, but these things are not OCD and they don't negatively or intrusively interfere with people's live. To say that everyone has OCD is dismissive of those that really are struggling with the legitimate condition.
Making casual checks and having structure is NOT OCD. Balancing a checkbook to the penny is being financially responsible. Changing the oil in their car every 3000 miles is being responsible and maintaining one's auto warranty.
Sorry, but these things are not OCD and they don't negatively or intrusively interfere with people's live. To say that everyone has OCD is dismissive of those that really are struggling with the legitimate condition.
Concur.
Because the line can be tenuous - the very real and invariably debilitating disorder that is OCD is often much understood, along the lines of 'My wardrobe is color coordinated ... I'm so 'OCD'' - or some such. Yes, people with OCD - may - or may not manifest extreme tidiness - depending on the obsession, but not being able to leave the house before checking the stove twenty times, is not 'normal efficiency', driving 30 miles out of your way, because you 'think' you might have run someone over, is not 'reasonable prudence', walking out of the store, unable to make a purchase because the sales clerk has an adhesive plaster on their finger, is not 'reasonable attention to health care' etc.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder isn't some new age imagined ailment for the spoiled, but a very real illness - largely connected with a misfiring brain, that can sometimes - not always - be made manageble through the right therapy - and for some through anti-depressants. Caveat - there is no 'cure' per se for OCD, but the aim is to change the sufferer's response to the exaggerated and faulty signals.
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