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Is This OCD?

Lemon Zing

Well-Known Member
If you log in on certain dates, or do things at a particular time and feel you have to definitely do it, that's a compulsion to most.

But to normal folk, it probably doesn't matter. Right?
 
Logging in at certain time points can just mean that you like order and routine (quite common in autists who can also gain some satisfaction from it, or frustration when it isn't possible). If you feel a strong compulsion to do so and get obsessive thoughts which take over if you don't follow your compulsions (or at least you feel they will), it is moving into OCD territory. I am not at all a mental health professional so am not best placed to answer it, but from my understanding, people tend to forget the "O" part in "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder".
 
When I was living on the streets for a while another of the homeless people had severe OCD, he had a compulsion to clean things if they were dirty. He was a huge man, solidly built, usually shirtless, covered in tattoos and piercings, shaved head. He looked really scary but he was actually a really nice bloke.

People in the homeless centre were used to him, quite often he’d come in and ask to borrow a bucket and a cloth so that he could clean something. The police were used to him too. I watched a drama unfold there one day, a car parked out the front of the homeless centre was really dirty, he started cleaning it.

Halfway through washing the car the family that owned it wanted to get in it and go home, but he hadn’t finished yet. Police calmed the family down and told the bloke with OCD they wouldn’t take him to the lockup if he finished really quickly. Putting him in the police lockup overnight wouldn’t have upset him, he’d enjoy having a proper bed for the night. Not letting him finish cleaning would send him into extreme fits of rage.
 
I worked with a OCD person. She tried to cash out our cash for the evening, it didn't balance and she went to meltdown. I comforted her, after that she was fine with me. OCD can happen as a result of trauma. I am sorta on that path. I do check for things obsessively, keys, phone, wallet, other things.
 
If you log in on certain dates, or do things at a particular time and feel you have to definitely do it, that's a compulsion to most.

But to normal folk, it probably doesn't matter. Right?

People who do not have OCD do indeed often fail to understand the compulsive nature of it all. I've been asked many times even here about it, where people ask, "But why?" And all I can say, is because I have to. Where resisting compulsive behaviors becomes overwhelming. Compounded with a feeling of non-existent consequences if and when I don't follow through over certain things. It can be maddening. :cry:

I'm just grateful that most people just don't even notice it, even when they lived with me. I've always tried very hard to keep it all to myself. Not easy at times either.

When I worked retail I too went into meltdown over not being able to balance. Spent four hours after closing trying to find where I went wrong. Turned out there was a check that got in the till that I didn't see or feel when I withdrew the till. (It was an antique cash register).

And when I get home, note that I check the lock to my front door no less than four times every night.

Yeah, life's not easy for those of us with comorbid OCD as well. Though I still believe it can be even worse for those with OCPD, who are compelled to "export" their compulsions beyond their own home or control.
 
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... it didn't balance and she went to meltdown.

It was the same with the man I mentioned above, he wasn't really an aggressive person, not letting him finish caused him to panic. When he lashed out it was through desperation and fear.
 
I definitely have it.

I log into accounts mostly after 8 AM and prefer to do it on the dates 13 to 31.

If it's outside of these hours, it's acceptable, so long as I complete the routine in the mornings. Pretty bizarre, but I have poor impulse control.
 
OCD is much better understood these days. I believe there is medication for it. I am not sure how therapy works for this. If it comes in between you getting things done, like the crucial things, you may need professional help.
 

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