The OCD Post

January 23, 2008 12:19 PM

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is often misunderstood (and is different from Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.) From wikipedia: "OCD sufferers are aware that such thoughts and behavior are not rational, but feel bound to comply with them to fend off feelings of panic or dread. Because sufferers are consciously aware of this irrationality but feel helpless to push it away, untreated OCD is often regarded as one of the most vexing and frustrating of the major anxiety disorders."

The exact cause of OCD is unknown. This site rounds up some of the likely candidates. (Surprise - strep throat might be a contributing factor!) TIME: When Worry Hijacks the Brain gives a good science-y overview. This site explains the Symptom Clusters: Checkers; Washers and Cleaners; Repeaters; Orderers; Hoarders; Thinking Ritualizers; Worriers and Pure Obsessionals

Treatments: General OCD treatment information and OCD medications. Non-traditional treatments like tryptophan, inositol, St. John's Wort, or L-thenanine are believed by some to help. Many also turn to drugs like marijuana for its calming effect on anxiety.

Living with OCD: Understanding Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. More stories. The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation.

OCD in literature and film (scroll down): "The media's portrayal of OCD sufferers as eccentric and overtly neurotic is a contributing factor in the continuing public misconception of the disorder. Contrary to popular belief, OCD sufferers will rarely exhibit their compulsive behaviours in public, often becoming very adept at hiding or camouflaging their rituals. To the outside observer, the person with OCD will often seem completely normal. In fact, the more visible traits of OCD are actually ones that are encouraged and even admired in society, such as perfectionism, attention to detail, and cleanliness. The popular media rarely portrays sufferers as they truly are — locked in a debilitating cycle of meaningless rituals that they feel compelled to perform even while recognizing their senselessness."

Famous people with OCD: Alec Baldwin, Roseanne Barr, David Beckham, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Paul Gascoigne, Kathie Lee Gifford, Howard Hughes, Stanley Kubrick, Howie Mandel, Rose McGowan, Joey Ramone, Martin Scorsese, David Sedaris, Charlie Sheen, Howard Stern, Marc Summers, Billy Bob Thornton, Donald Trump, Warren Zevon

posted by agregoli (65 comments total)

As someone who cares very deeply about a person who has suffered from obsessive thought patterns and generalized anxiety disorder, I'd just like to say...

"OCD" is not an adjective. People are not "OCD". Behaviors are not "OCD". People can have OCD, and behaviors can be obsessive, but "OCD" is a noun.

Thank you, that is all.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 12:25 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

Thank YOU, TheNewWazoo. I have OCD, and I've spoken up an exhausting number of times about that kind of phrasing. I don't know why it's so popular lately, but it's really annoying.
posted by agregoli at 12:26 PM on January 23

It's because everyone participates in obsessive or compulsive behavior now and then, which makes them erroneously think they can relate to what this disorder is like. Sort of like how if you made out with a dude in college, you know what being gay is like.
posted by hermitosis at 12:36 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I made out with a dude who had OCD. It's the only way I could get him to stop licking the light switches.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:41 PM on January 23 [11 favorites]

As someone with undiagnosed asperger's, I'm not sure I understand what you guys are saying.
posted by Greg Nog at 12:41 PM on January 23 [11 favorites]

Just an update: Howard Stern no longer has OCD, thanks to Dr. John Sarno.
posted by Jay Reimenschneider at 12:44 PM on January 23

My son has mild OCD, but he plays baseball and supposedly MANY baseball players have it. Not to make light of this topic, but sometime the stuff he did was/is hilarious.

He self-diagnosed as a teenager, and controls the symptoms well now. He had a lot of success with therapy (training) and also supplements with EFA and Fish Body Oils. agregoli, did you ever try those supplements to help attenuate symptoms?
posted by sfts2 at 12:46 PM on January 23

As another person with OCD, this kind of phrasing does not bother me. It seems as if it being said like "That person behaves as if they have OCD." or that "Washing your hands 67 times a day is behavior that could be described as being symptomatic of OCD."
posted by josher71 at 12:46 PM on January 23 [3 favorites]

I think he has 'turned to marijuana' too...
posted by sfts2 at 12:47 PM on January 23

I don't know if that Howard Stern comment is serious or not, since the jokes have already started (I don't find anything funny about OCD, but this IS Metafilter so I expect the jokes), but I'm puzzled as to how you could "no longer have" OCD. It's not something that ever is "cured." Controlled, yes, but not cured.

I have not tried any supplements. I sort of had a life intervention in a sense, my own behavior therapy, when my husband (then boyfriend) moved in with me. That combined with a few other factors helped me and now I have it very well controlled, unless I am stressed. I'm curious about trying inosital and might give that a go if I have more problems.
posted by agregoli at 12:51 PM on January 23

josher, one of the things that bothers me about it is that it's not gramatically correct to say, "I'm so OCD!" or "That is so OCD!" That and the fact that it's usually not true that it's describing the disorder correctly - usually it's describing one behavior and one behavior does not OCD make.
posted by agregoli at 12:52 PM on January 23

*refreshes Recent Activity page*
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:53 PM on January 23 [9 favorites]

This is very informative. Thanks.

The Devil in the Details is an interesting memoir of a young woman with OCD. She does make light of the disorder, but it seems more as a method of coping with her disorder rather than seeking to lessen the impact.

The human brain is a wacky place and we've got a long way to go before we really can understand it, but we are making progress it seems. Personally, I've got some obsessive behaviors and had a few as a kid, but they never really took hold. One of the reasons so many people find this sort of stuff intriguing is many of us have these kinds of tendancies. They never reach full disorder, but the bits are there. That's why a lot of people, myself included, use "OCD" as an adjective. We are aware that these things are slightly not right, and can identify it as such, but we also understand it's not as bad as it could be. It's a language shorthand that lets others know what's going on. Plus it's far less bitchy than saying "Sweetie, put your dishes in the dishwasher because it makes me want to smother you in your sleep when you don't."

Or that could just be me.
posted by teleri025 at 12:54 PM on January 23

I'm fairly certain that I used to have this as a child. I was never diagnosed, but in retrospect, I would put a lot of money on it. I was somewhere between a repeater and a thinking ritualizer. I'd repeat certain things over and over, like getting a drink of water at night. I would make certain facial expressions over and over or make a sound in my throat to feel okay about things. I would have to count to a certain number before trying to go to sleep. And this was only a few of the things I'd do. I'd rotate between things, or pick up new habits. It was embarrassing, yet confusing in its compulsion.

I was eventually able to redirect these compulsions to things that were way less obvious and diluted the compulsion, and this was how I eventually dealt with it. Instead of blinking my eyes a certain number of times when I felt nervous, I would doodle a certain image on my notepad that was a repeating pattern. Or I would trace a figure eight on my forefinger with my thumb, or something like that. Eventually, the compulsions became much less strong, because it felt like it had a more subtle outlet. I still do those things when I get nervous even now (my wife points out when I do it subconsciously, as she knows the signs), but it's not like it was. It went from obvious and embarrassing compulsion to something that is barely noticeable and is no longer compelling. I don't know how it happened, but the day I realized the switch, I was pretty happy.

Years later when talking to a therapist about some family issues, I remembered these things from my childhood. I had forgotten, as it had been years, and I didn't know there was a diagnosis for it. After talking it through, I'm fairly certain the compulsions started when I felt that there was emotional trauma in my life that I couldn't resolve, and I grabbed onto something tangible that I could control. The irony is that the emotional connections to those things eventually ended up controlling me.
posted by SpacemanStix at 1:03 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

What does it say about me that the VERY first thing I wanted to do was correct the spelling of "obssesive"?
posted by miss lynnster at 1:11 PM on January 23

One of the reasons so many people find this sort of stuff intriguing is many of us have these kinds of tendancies. They never reach full disorder, but the bits are there. That's why a lot of people, myself included, use "OCD" as an adjective. We are aware that these things are slightly not right, and can identify it as such, but we also understand it's not as bad as it could be.

All I really wish, I guess, is that people used "I'm obsessed with ___" or "I feel compelled to do ____" instead of appropriating the OCD label, since a tendency is not a disorder. I understand what you're saying though. I doubt it bothers many people - I just personally don't like it.
posted by agregoli at 1:12 PM on January 23

(Sorry about the typo, I checked it so many times my eyes started bleeding - all those "sssss.")
posted by agregoli at 1:13 PM on January 23

I have undiagnosed OCD. Sometimes I forget that I have it, as these are just things that I've always done, until someone asks me why I'm counting my steps, or I won't step on the cracks on the sidewalk. Generally no one notices though. It will stay undiagnosed simply because I don't need someone to tell me what I'm doing is obsessive-compulsive.

As a child, the worst was that I wanted everything to be even. Anything that happened to one side of my body I *had* to do to the other. I just had to. I distinctly remember bumping into someone with my left hand on their left side in a store. I tracked down the same person and bumped my right hand into their right (just in case they had OCD as well and they needed to be even). I grew out of it, but other things persist, like aligning things (silverware must be straight and parallel to each other) and I fold my trash, I can't crumple it up.

I'd always had a preoccupation with numbers but it has only gotten worse as I got older. I love the number five. I do not know why. Things must be in fives. The volume is either too loud or too low because it is always on a multiple of five. If I can't finish something like M&M's on a multiple of five I won't finish them all. I hate fours and sixes. Love fives. I count my steps and I have strange rules by which I can manipulate the numbers into being a multiple of five. It's going to be an awesome day when the odometer on my car is a multiple of five. Four FFP's, one more AskMe question and two more AskMe comments after this one and I will be as good as gold. Can't do anything about the favorites though. And yes, I just previewed this comment five times.

I feel if I don't do these things, planes will fall out of the sky, water will cease to run, and the world will explode. So I think it's in everyone's best interest that I keep it up.
posted by sephira at 1:21 PM on January 23 [22 favorites]

I know most people simply write him off as some sort of misogynist vulgarian, but it's no joke about Howard Stern being cured of OCD (and back pain) by Dr. Sarno.

His says his OCD disappeared almost instantaneously while reading Dr. Sarno's "Healing Back Pain" after realizing that Sarno's theory applies to OCD as well.
posted by Jay Reimenschneider at 1:24 PM on January 23

I hope reading Sarno's book helps someone here- be it pain or OCD or both.
posted by Jay Reimenschneider at 1:25 PM on January 23

Marc Summers? The guy from Double Dare?

Talk about hating your job ...
posted by eritain at 1:36 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

"Notable patients of Sarno include radio personality Howard Stern...Stern dedicated his first book (Private Parts) to Sarno, in addition to three members of Stern's family....'"TO DR. JOHN SARNO, for ridding me of back pain and obsessive-compulsive disorder.'"*
posted by ericb at 1:36 PM on January 23

I have undiagnosed OCD. Sometimes I forget that I have it, as these are just things that I've always done, until someone asks me why I'm counting my steps, or I won't step on the cracks on the sidewalk.

I remember as a kid, I used to have this "ritual". There were cracks in the sidewalk leading up to my elementary school, each one (say) half a foot or so apart.

Every day that I walked to school, I felt as if I had to step on the cracks in a certain pattern, or else my mother would die that day. I have absolutely no idea where that idea came from ... it just sorta popped into my head one day. And the thing is, it made absolute, perfect sense to me at the time. I spent several years making sure to step on the cracks in my particular pattern before I (very gradually) started to grow out of it.

The human brain is a funny thing.
posted by Avenger at 1:37 PM on January 23

This is a great roundup, agregoli. Thanks for putting it together. Fixed that typo for you.
posted by cortex at 1:44 PM on January 23

Ah, thanks, cortex!
posted by agregoli at 1:47 PM on January 23

I read the license plates of parked cars and try to commit them to memory when I'm walking by, or I count the tiles on walls or on floors and I try to find the number six (Sorry Sephira) in things because I think it's good luck. If it's a house number I'll multiply or subtract the numbers from themselves to try and get six from some of the numbers. Strangely my street address is 114.

*refreshes Recent Activity page*

That's no joke UbuRoivas, I'll do that every few minutes along with checking my email. It used to be after 911 and for a few years after I'd check the news continually to make sure there hadn't been a terrorist attack.

Also I make deals with my self that usually go something like: If x happens than y will happen, y usually being a very good thing if x happens and a bad thing if x doesn't happen. Sometimes I have control over x, so it's a competition with myself and sometimes it's simply based on something that's another pattern happening when I want it to. The other thing I do is get obsessed with a street corner or the section of a road or other place (like a rooftop) and keep visualizing it in my head everytime I think of a certain idea. There's usually absolutely no connection that I can derive between the place I visualize and the idea. It's weird.

The hard part is when it begins to loop, and I'll literally waste blocks of hours, if nothing is pressing, or I don't have any plans that involve other people, repeating these rituals w/o being able to snap out of it.

It took me a long time to admit I might have OCD. How do people break out of the looping and what, outside of Rx drugs can be taken for it?
posted by Skygazer at 2:21 PM on January 23

Personally, my looping behaviors were mostly hand washing. Classic, I know. What got me out of it was living with my husband - if he noticed me taking too long washing my hands in the bathroom, he would come and get me and make me stop, or holler at me to quit it. It really helped break the looping. Obviously that doesn't work for internal thoughts - I usually try to do something else IMMEDIATELY when it starts but that doesn't always work, I know. Sometimes calming techniques used for panic attack sufferers will help.

I knew I had OCD at age 10, but wasn't diagnosed formally until 21. I have experienced a lot of the symptoms (checking, obsession with numbers, balance with objects and the body, etc.) but hand washing has always been my main problem. Luckily now I can mostly control it.

As for other than Rx stuff, there are already suggestions in this thread.
posted by agregoli at 2:27 PM on January 23

Isn't anyone going to give sephira the last two favorites she needs on that comment?
posted by yhbc at 2:30 PM on January 23 [2 favorites]

Skygazer: try doing some research on inositol. It seemed to work for me. That and self administered cognitive behavioral therapy. Sometimes just recognizing that OCD is the cause of your irrational thoughts can really help (i.e. it's not me, it's the OCD...).
posted by stratospark at 2:30 PM on January 23

I've got mild OCD, and it manifests itself in (what seems to me as) bizarre ways. I used to have a problem where horrible images of the brutal death of someone close to me would pop into my head. Maybe I'd be cooking and see myself tripping and hurting them with a knife. Sometimes it was my own death. Whatever the case, I couldn't get the images out of my head, and it was so jarring I'd have to leave the room. My therapist explained that this was one trait of obsessive compulsive folk - even right down to imagining the death of a loved one. It didn't mean I wanted to see anyone get hurt - it was more like an obsessive fear.

My dad told my mom about it in a "Funny how the human mind works!" kind of way, but my self-centered mother decided I was a psychopath and started having her best friend sleep in the living room when my dad had to work nights because she was afraid I would kill her in her sleep.

Great way to show support for your teenage daughter, moms and dads out there.
posted by katillathehun at 2:33 PM on January 23

Skygazer: I mentioned this in my previous post, but the thing that worked for me was finding activities that were more socially acceptable and less compulsive on the surface physically that somehow diluted the desire to continue those behaviors. I'm not exactly sure how that worked, but it did. I would say that those underlying symptoms still flutter below the surface at times. For example, I'll feel the need to blink once, or do small circles with my fingers. But man, it's not even close to what it used to be. I don't know how to describe this in psychological terms, but it feels like a redirection, where I can corral my impulses into a new area of activity where they are much less intense. Most of the time I don't even notice them any more.
posted by SpacemanStix at 2:41 PM on January 23

I've dealt with OCD since at least my pre-teens (maybe even earlier than that). I've read that the French call it the "Doubting Disease," and I think that conveys the experience very well--there's nothing more frustrating than knowing you did something (shut off the stove, locked the front door) but your brain not allowing you to really believe you did that something.

In addition, the read that can accompany the disorder can sometimes swell to crippling, existential proportions.

With regard to treatment approaches: I tried Prozac for a while (about a dozen years ago) and it seemed to help, at the cost of "sanding down the edges" of my emotional self.

I've had much more success controlling my OCD using behavior modification--"Brain Lock" by Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz provides a simple approach that, for me, works very well. I recommend this book on a regular basis.
posted by retronic at 2:51 PM on January 23

I've got OCD too-- relatively mild fortunately; I think it's part of my Asperger-y side.

Nearly all normal young children have ritualized behavior and tendencies that can be seen as OCD-like. For example, they hate disruptions in routine, rejoice in repetition and can get very upset if they aren't allowed to complete their rituals or if something they want a particular way isn't "just right." People without the disorder outgrow this stuff-- people with it tend to elaborate it and hide it when they realize certain aspects aren't socially acceptable.

What's hard about dealing with it is that every time you repeat the behavior, you reinforce it, but not doing it feels awful so you usually give in. Substitution definitely helps-- but can grow into a new ritual that doesn't replace the old one sometimes.

SSRI's help-- but I can't take the high doses I'd need to get rid of it completely.
posted by Maias at 2:52 PM on January 23

Make that "the dread that can accompany the disorder...".
posted by retronic at 2:57 PM on January 23

Maias: It's curious that some people outgrow it and I wonder why. I used to be unable to fall asleep unless the numbers on my digital bedside clock added up to some acceptable number (like sephira, fours and sixes were bad - in my case, sevens were the best). This wasn't when I was a child though - this was when I was 20, living on my own. I'm not sure when I stopped or why, but it's not something I do compulsively anymore.
posted by desjardins at 3:00 PM on January 23

Excellent post. Thanks.
posted by christopherious at 3:01 PM on January 23

I can see where humorists might find OCD behavior funny, I mean, from the outside, the idea of someone who obsessively washes or needs to count things could be a great reservoir of the funny (See USA's Monk for a fairly good example of how this can be done.)

But the thing is, I don't have OCD. But I have had crazy moments where I am certain than I didn't lock the front door. I know that I, in fact, did lock it, but I have to check anyway.

This happens maybe once every couple of months. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be to live with daily.
posted by quin at 3:34 PM on January 23

Great post. To address the small bit that lies in my area of competence:

it's not gramatically correct to say, "I'm so OCD!" or "That is so OCD!"

Sure it is. English is amazingly flexible about so-called "parts of speech" (which is one reason many linguists reject the traditional classification); a lexical chunk can get used as noun, verb, or adjective with no modification whenever convenient. You have to try using a much more formalized language like Russian ("hell, how do I make an adjective out of that?") to truly appreciate this feature.

Needless to say, your annoyance at people using terms sloppily and not describing the disorder correctly is entirely justified.
posted by languagehat at 3:34 PM on January 23

OCD was part of my parent's divorce, so I'm very sensitive to it in others, sometimes uncannily so. My father's concern was about not harming anyone (he was a physician). Sometimes when he drove onto a roundabout (US "rotary") near a bicycle, he'd have to go round again to check that he hadn't hit the chap on the bike. Then he'd have to check again, and again.

I recall spending at least 30 minutes going round and round one roundabout. It was better than most amusement park rides.
posted by mdoar at 3:38 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I have OCD and man does it suck sometimes. I love reading about it, though (obsessively, even), so this is a great set of links. Thanks for that!

The one thing I always make sure to do is make fun of it when it's mild enough that I can still think it's funny. If I couldn't laugh at it and myself sometimes, I think I'd go crazy - I mean, there's definitely a big difference between the crippling bouts of checking and catastrophic thoughts I never wanted to have and the merely quirky and inconsequential obsessions and behaviors that have become part of my personality over the years. The former sucks, obviously, but the latter can be fun if you spin it right.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 3:45 PM on January 23

Great post and, aside from the snark, some interesting comments.

I'm undiagnosed, but have suspected I have very mild OCD for some time now -- a suspicion which was somewhat reinforced when I started taking SSRIs and then SNRIs and noticed I wasn't obsessing over some things as much as usual or could begin to control the need to act on them.

And sephira, I noticed you were up to 6 favorites on your comment. I added one more, to help you get to 10. :)
posted by aine42 at 3:45 PM on January 23

One thing that I have found to help is Celexa. It has some unfortunate and annoying side effects, but it's very effective in quieting all my little crazies.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 3:46 PM on January 23

I've got mild OCD, and it manifests itself in (what seems to me as) bizarre ways. I used to have a problem where horrible images of the brutal death of someone close to me would pop into my head. Maybe I'd be cooking and see myself tripping and hurting them with a knife. Sometimes it was my own death. Whatever the case, I couldn't get the images out of my head, and it was so jarring I'd have to leave the room. My therapist explained that this was one trait of obsessive compulsive folk - even right down to imagining the death of a loved one. It didn't mean I wanted to see anyone get hurt - it was more like an obsessive fear.

Weird. I had no idea this was a trait of OCD. I've done this since I was a kid. I still do it, and will sometimes give myself a panic attack if I don't stop and walk around. When I was a kid, I was convinced planes were going to crash on my head (we had a lot of skydivers/trick fliers around my rural home). It got really bad, I eventually talked/prayed myself out of it.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 4:11 PM on January 23

Excellent post.

I've been diagnosed with Pure Obsessive Disorder. I've had it since I can remember. One of my earliest memories is of hiding under the covers in a "tamale" fashion, hoping that the radiation fallout from the inevitable nuclear conflict between the US and the Soviet Union would not affect me. Also, if I did it in a correct fashion, I would be able to stop the conflict altogether. I used to do it night after night, until I was about 12 or so. Then I got to worry about other things...... that particular thought pattern showed its ugly head after my dad took me to watch "the day after" as a wee boy, and he had several Nostradamus books lying around that I used to read when I was homesick from strep-throat.

When I was in college it hit really, really hard, making me almost drop-out. Fortunately i was able to manage it by doing regular exercise. Then, after college, it hit again, with a vengeance, and that's when I started seeing a psychiatrist and a psychologist. So far they have been very helpful.

Also, my dad suffers from it too, but in a very severe form, not even close to what I experience. It is a terrible disease, for a lack of a better word. I has caused havoc in my family. So, as some of the articles say, it is (at least in my case) a combination of strep throat, genetics and learned behaviours.

Zoloft seems to help me. As for my dad, he has tried everything in the book, and so far, he's had no relief of the symptoms. They just come and go. Poor dad. I'm going to go give him a hug.
posted by elmono at 4:17 PM on January 23

I have a tendency towards certain compulsions, I don't know that I would define it as OCD as I've never been diagnosed and its always been rather mild. Like Skygazer, I make deals/bets with myself about certain contingencies (I didn't realize that other folks did that too). I have this thing about checking my laundry (which machine is whites/which is colors) and I usually end up checking it 6-7 times in the process of adding detergent, etc. I have and have had certain rituals that I have had a need to perform but its always been relatively benign. I also occasionally get the disturbing image popping up and sticking in my head, although I had never before associated that with anything having to do with OCD. Now , I try to channel this energy into hobbies, I collect a lot of shit: diecast robots, action figures, teapots, plants, books, shoes, ethnic art, smoking paraphernalia (lighters, pipes etc.), knives (at one time guns), I've gotten into aquariums and am thinking about a reptile terrarium, comic books and manga . . .these give me something to pour this energy into (although my wife thinks that are apartment is to cluttered).
posted by anansi at 6:04 PM on January 23

That and the fact that it's usually not true that it's describing the disorder correctly - usually it's describing one behavior and one behavior does not OCD make.

So I can sympathize that if you suffer from a disease, be it physical or mental, that you don't want people to make light of it. We no longer call uncoordinated kids "quad" and we try to avoid calling dumb people "retarded", at least in polite company.

But people do use words like paranoid and schizophrenic in non-clinical settings with meanings that are related but not really the same as the clinical meaning. No one criticizes Andy Grove as being insensitive to people who suffer from DSM IV-grade paranoia.

So I don't think it's so wrong to say that "Jeff's so OCD about counting his change" for instance. It's too bad we don't have a real word like "paranoid" and have to make do with an acronym but the sentiment is the same.
posted by GuyZero at 6:21 PM on January 23

As a child, the worst was that I wanted everything to be even. Anything that happened to one side of my body I *had* to do to the other. I just had to. I distinctly remember bumping into someone with my left hand on their left side in a store. I tracked down the same person and bumped my right hand into their right (just in case they had OCD as well and they needed to be even).
Sephira, this was (and still is) me! I remember once when I was a child, my parents had a lot of company over and I was standing too close to a rocking chair and the person sitting in it rocked on my big toe. He apologized profusely, but he thought I was just plain stupid when a few minutes later I purprosely stuck the big toe of the other foot under the blade of the chair. I still cannot stand it if one sock is sagging down around my ankle and the other is pulled up. I hoard pens (gel pens, milky gels, colorful inks, etc), and once I get them home I carefully slit the package open along the top with a knife so that I can put the pens back in the package in the original order they came in when I'm done. I have to use each pen in a package equally; I cannot have the ink supply be noticeably lower in any one pen than in the others. Oh, and of course I have to wipe each one off with a paper towel dampened with rubbing alcohol before and after I use it. I'm not a "counter" or a check-and-re-checker, but I am a hand-washer, and I often have trouble "switching off" thoughts, even when I mentally try to lift my mind off of that topic and on to something else.
posted by Oriole Adams at 6:55 PM on January 23

*wants to favorite sephira's comment, but doesn't want to be the sixteenth favorite*

Nearly all normal young children have ritualized behavior and tendencies that can be seen as OCD-like. For example, they hate disruptions in routine, rejoice in repetition and can get very upset if they aren't allowed to complete their rituals or if something they want a particular way isn't "just right." People without the disorder outgrow this stuff

That's really interesting, Maias. I do remember being really young (probably around five or so) and being very concerned about evenness. If I did something with my left hand, I would then have to perform the same action with my right hand, or risk being somehow extremely "unfair". I did grow out of this, but I wasn't aware that it was common among children until now.

But the thing is, I don't have OCD. But I have had crazy moments where I am certain than I didn't lock the front door. I know that I, in fact, did lock it, but I have to check anyway.
posted by quin at 3:34 PM on January 23

The exact same thing happens to me, both with my front door, making sure I've locked my car door (which has a manual door lock), and checking to see if I've put my keys in my purse. I think it comes from the fact that all these actions are done on such a regular basis that they've become routine to the point where I no longer consciously think about them while I perform them. Then all of sudden I will remember about the necessity of the routine after the fact for whatever reason, realize that I can't conscious remember if I've performed the action or not, and then comes the quick dash across the parking lot to look in my car's window to see if that little plastic tab has been pressed down.
posted by kosher_jenny at 7:27 PM on January 23

It's interesting, how so many people had problems with obsessive behaviors in childhood. I definitely did too -- tapping, preoccupation with numbers, etc. I figure that for me my obsessive actions have more to do with my anxiety disorder. It got bad as an adult the last time I weaned off of antidepressants; my germphobia got incredibly fierce. After a few months it died down again, luckily. I still find myself wanting to drive around the block to ensure that my garage is closed but I've learned a few coping mechanisms.
posted by sugarfish at 8:41 PM on January 23

I've always had little weird tics and rituals, but nothing really intrusive or noticeable by others until I was in high school. My food couldn't touch. It got so my mom bought a divided plate.

I grew out of the divided plate when it morphed into eating one thing at a time before moving to the next. If I have chicken, green beans, and corn on my plate, then I eat all the green beans, then all the corn, then all the chicken. If I make a mistake or leave the table, I drink my entire drink and then start over.

Though I've been able to make things match into something. Like I can eat an apple slice and piece of cheddar together. But only if I keep eating it like that, and not a plain slice of apple or two pieces of cheddar together. Only apple slice and cheddar.

But I'm forever hearing relatives tell me, "Don't fill up on ____! Eat some more ____."
posted by FunkyHelix at 9:19 PM on January 23

I dealt with pretty severe OCD in my late teens. I still have the thoughts and actions with it. Gotta re-check something, whatever. I find that OCD (for me at least) is more of a side effect of stress and a strange way for my mind to try to calm down and take control than it is the origin of a problem itself.

Now depression. That's a doozy (that I've dealt with too). Better to be anxious and still want live and experience pleasure, I say. Not that we can really choose. Just saying.
posted by wastelands at 9:27 PM on January 23

Is OCD something that can come about during times of stress? I never had any tendencies for it, save one point in my life I was under a lot of pressure for a prolonged period. All of a sudden I found myself ritualizing behaviors I never thought twice about. Upon things normalizing, that went away. It's not like I have a constant undercurrent I feel that only comes out when stressed. As far as I know, that time period (a real black period spanning a little over a year) was the only time.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:41 PM on January 23

Ha ha ha 15 favorites, you guys are so freaking awesome.

Funky Helix, I do the same thing! I don't want my food to touch. At. All. And I go batshit insane if the two foods are morphed (like cole slaw on top of the barbecue sandwich. What sick fuck thought that up?!). I actually seriously considered joining the military because a friend had told me that all of the plates were divided.
posted by sephira at 6:16 AM on January 24

But people do use words like paranoid and schizophrenic in non-clinical settings with meanings that are related but not really the same as the clinical meaning. No one criticizes Andy Grove as being insensitive to people who suffer from DSM IV-grade paranoia.

No one IS a "paranoid." That's a valid word to use to describe a behavior. People ARE schizophrenic, and I wish people wouldn't use "schizo" as a casual term either.

So I don't think it's so wrong to say that "Jeff's so OCD about counting his change" for instance. It's too bad we don't have a real word like "paranoid" and have to make do with an acronym but the sentiment is the same.

That's nice and all, but I'm surprised by the number of people who feel they have to defend this useage. I don't find it a nice sentiment at all to co-opt a very real and painful disorder as a light-hearted, "Look how quirky he is!" thingy. You DO have a real word to use. There's nothing wrong with using the word "obsessive" in place of OCD in your example, is there? Why go to OCD?

That's all I'm going to say about this, because obviously people like using it for some reason. I can't control that, I can only say, I really wish people wouldn't.
posted by agregoli at 7:27 AM on January 24

*favorited sephira so she wouldn't be stuck on 16*
posted by desjardins at 7:41 AM on January 24

It's interesting that you bring up the military, sephira. I wonder how many people with OCD are drawn to the military just for its sense of order. I was not physically able to join the military but I was always attracted to the rigid discipline. I'm similarly fascinated with prisons, though rationally I know they're worlds apart. I wonder though if I could really cope with a structure that is not of my own making.
posted by desjardins at 7:45 AM on January 24

Um...Sephira's stuck on 18 favorites.

Could three people step up and put the universe back in order please? Thx.
posted by Skygazer at 8:37 AM on January 24

I'm not freaking out about the favorites. Things that are beyond my control I don't pay too much attention to. Unless you guys are OCD about it, in which case, carry on.

And OCD can be funny. Just read David Sedaris. I remember laughing hysterically reading about how his shoe called to him to be tapped on his forehead, no one would notice; or that he -had- to touch a lawn ornament. (Even funnier, I was arranging m&m's by color (first brown, then yellow, orange, red, green, blue) and grouping them in fives at the time wondering why on earth someone would lick a light bulb).
posted by sephira at 8:45 AM on January 24

That's cool, because obviously I can't add. (It should just be two people, not three. Duh.)
posted by Skygazer at 8:54 AM on January 24

Got sephira's fav count to a nice multiple of five, 20. We should be safe from falling planes and stilled water.

I've decided that if I can't be legitimately obsessive myself, I'm just going to buy into other people's perceptions.
posted by quin at 11:10 AM on January 24

The form I seem to have is dermatillomania, which is about as icky as it sounds. People keep suggesting I should just get constant manicures but I don't know about that....pickpickpick. I'm pretty much OK with having this condition, though it is annoying. Glad mine is not super debilitating.
posted by wowbobwow at 12:43 PM on January 24

Finger picking and nail biting is also called onychophagia.
posted by Skygazer at 3:31 PM on January 24

sephira: i thought i'd dedicate my 3,500th comment on the blue to you.
posted by UbuRoivas at 9:13 PM on January 24

Argh, sorry, Sephira -- I really don't want to skew your fave count (especially since I have a 5 fixation too).

But I also have a fixation on tracking comments, so I can't unfavorite your comment.

Conflicting fixations, uh-oh.

:Death by head explosion:
posted by ntartifex at 9:13 PM on January 24

Good article about OCD and eating at restuarants from the New York Times:

When Anxiety Is at the Table

posted by Skygazer at 9:40 PM on February 6