Do You Have OCD?

[Kestra]

Noticing in some of the other threads, a lot of people mentioning OCD. I'm just curious as to what the numbers are like, because they seem rather high. I'm making the poll anonymous in case people feel self-conscious, but you're welcome to elaborate in a post.

 

[doubleohfive]

I think so, yes. Not to a crippling degree, and not to a particularly meddlesome degree but enough that I notice it.

 

[Gepard]

Bunnies!

 

[RoJoHen]

Not even a little bit.

 

[Rii]

It's one of those things that everyone has but nobody's ever been diagnosed with. Like depression and ADHD.

EDIT: Anorexia is up there too. Although typically said of others rather than oneself.

 

[Amaris]

Bunnies!

That's ADD.
And yes, I have a couple of undiagnosed OCD traits.

 

[gturner]

Hey, I have a bunch of bunnies.

They play with my kitty.

Hey, there's a Star Trek Enterprise T-shirt in this Dungeons & Dragons video at around 2:30 in. Possibly not safe for work, though. link

 

[SeerSGB]

I think so yes. Don't have an official diagnosis, but I've noticed (lately with more things and more frequency) that I tend to do certain things in groups, in a certain pattern, over and over.

 

[Ruaidhri]

I don't believe so!

 

[Danny99]

I believe I have it as my mother does.

It hasn't destroyed my life. It just takes me forever to make sure a door is locked or that I shut the garage door.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I don't have OCD,but I definitely have a touch of OCPD (obsessive-compulsive personality disorder). That's more of a mental outlook that needs and demands rigidity and order in things. It often makes it difficult to do things because I find it hard to deviate from a course of action that I know isn't helping me.

I do have certain compulsive things I do. I use colored plastic hangars and certain colors hangars have to go with certain shirts. There is no rule for that either it is based entirely on my subjective opinion. The only exception is groups of clothes(t-shirts, pants, et) can be on all the same color hangar. I used to make really OCD-ish to do lists too. There would have to be a certain number of things on the list, in certain order, written in a certain pattern. I've lightened up on that a bit though.

 

[Kestra]

Bunnies!

I'm guessing you're the one that voted for that option.

It's one of those things that everyone has but nobody's ever been diagnosed with. Like depression and ADHD.

EDIT: Anorexia is up there too. Although typically said of others rather than oneself.

Hmm, I don't think that's true. I know a few people who have been diagnosed with OCD. It can manifest in thought patterns too, not just behaviors. And depression's much more common as a diagnosis.

As for myself, I have a few habits that I stick to in certain situations and whatnot, but nothing that keeps me from functioning.

 

[Rii]

Hmm, I don't think that's true. I know a few people who have been diagnosed with OCD. It can manifest in thought patterns too, not just behaviors. And depression's much more common as a diagnosis.

I didn't mean that literally. I just meant that it's something people like to claim without a diagnosis and without any real understanding of its implications. "Oh I'm so OCD, teehee!" and such. The ratio of people who say they have OCD to the ratio of people who actually have OCD to the ratio of people who have been diagnosed with OCD is probably something like 30:3:1.

 

[RoJoHen]

That could be. Having habits or liking to do things a certain way doesn't mean you have OCD.

Neither does being easily distracted mean you have ADD.

 

[Kestra]

Hmm, I don't think that's true. I know a few people who have been diagnosed with OCD. It can manifest in thought patterns too, not just behaviors. And depression's much more common as a diagnosis.

I didn't mean that literally. I just meant that it's something people like to claim without a diagnosis and without any real understanding of its implications. "Oh I'm so OCD, teehee!" and such. The ratio of people who say they have OCD to the ratio of people who actually have OCD to the ratio of people who have been diagnosed with OCD is probably something like 30:3:1.

Ohh, yeah, got you. That's one of the reasons I did this poll. There are many illnesses that people have superficial misconceptions of, or they are unaware of the criteria that needs to be met for an official diagnosis. But some of them might actually have some of these illnesses, who knows?

 

[AstroSmurf]

I have been diagnosed with it and I am not embarrassed by it either. But I have very much under control with a few minor exceptions. For example, I used to have to park in the exact same parking spaces every time I visited a store. I felt I couldn't get out of the car if my space was taken. I haven't done that in ages because I actively started making myself park in different spots when I go shopping. On a broader scale, I have attacked and broken most of my tendencies that way. Really the only thing I have issues with these days is my need for creating patterns in things. I also have this intense need for things to be organized and clean. And if I am upset or agitated, I will clean things over and over again. The reputation makes me feel safe. I have never been able to stop doing that.

And before you ask, I saw a therapist about it for a little while, which helped immensely. I was on medication for six months but I didn't like how it made me feel so they took me off of it.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I've been diagnosed with it. It doesn't affect my life a whole lot. I'm just very routine-oriented and don't deal well with chaos.

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

That could be. Having habits or liking to do things a certain way doesn't mean you have OCD.

Neither does being easily distracted mean you have ADD.

True. If that were adequate for a diagnosis we'd all be sex addicts.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I think I have at least a mild form of it. It has not been diagnosed, but I've never been to a psychologist so I guess I've never had a chance for it to be diagnosed. Other people in my life have commented that I get it checked out. I am extremely particular about certain things and I have to do them a certain way, but mostly it's in my thought processes that I notice issues. Sometimes I will have compulsive thoughts to do something "bad," like when I'm driving I just imagine myself driving off the side of the freeway or into another car, and while I don't do it, the thought won't leave my head. And it's not in a suicidal way, it's just like...a compulsion. I definitely obsess about doing things in a specific pattern and sometimes I have to do things over and over...this is especially true when I read. I feel like I have to "see" the letters a certain way, I have to read an "r," for example, from the bottom to the top and then through the curve. And if I don't read every letter correctly, I have to read the sentence over again. As a result I am a VERY slow reader. But if I read out loud I don't have this problem (but someone has to be in the room for me to read out loud, even if they aren't listening, otherwise I can't read out loud). Yeah...there are other things I do that are strange but they don't usually interfere with my life, they just cause me to be very organized and tidy. My mom tells me that when I was young (like 3 or 4) I would line up my books on the floor in a certain pattern and I would freak out if anyone disturbed them.

These "issues" got worse when I hit puberty and were bad when I was a teenager, but I feel that they have improved since then. But it fluctuates...some days I know that I just cannot get any work done, I can't read or process documents at work because I have to keep going back and rechecking things and it's easier to just not bother at all. But the majority of days I feel okay.

Maybe I don't have OCD and have something else, but having looked into it myself OCD seems to best fit the behaviors and thoughts that I have.

 

[Kestra]

Sometimes I will have compulsive thoughts to do something "bad," like when I'm driving I just imagine myself driving off the side of the freeway or into another car, and while I don't do it, the thought won't leave my head. And it's not in a suicidal way, it's just like...a compulsion.

I have a friend who has been diagnosed with OCD and he has mentioned things like this. How it's just a compulsion, not actually a desire to do something bad with anything more behind it.