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This is a question Bizarre habits

Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic tells us: "Until I pointed it out, my other half use to hang out the washing making sure that both pegs were the same colour. Now she goes out of her way to make sure they never match." Tell us about bizarre rituals, habits and OCD-like behaviour.

(, Thu 1 Jul 2010, 12:33)
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Yes - being tidy I can understand - it's generally less hassle to be tidy than not - it's the OCD stuff that I don't get.
Maybe it's just that I'm incredibly lazy.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:04, 1 reply)
Its almost like they have some kind of mental disorder...

(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:18, closed)
Well that's exactly it - I don't think they do.

(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:24, closed)
there's definitely a line
between fussy and obsessive.

Some people simply can't be around things that have absolutely no effect on their lives.

You've got £7.49 in loose change in your pocket. Does it make any difference to you whether it is sorted in size of coin? Course not. But an OCD person simply can't operate until they are where they 'need' to be.

And there's a lot of food ones. Can't have meat touching potatoes, have to throw it all away if egg yolk bursts before you've finished your peas?

It makes huge differences to their lives. They waste vast amounts of time, at the expense of other opportunities (go back 3 times to check your door? How far would you have got etc). They injure themselves (try washing your hands 80 times a day, using a scrubbing brush).

It is some kind of mental illness, in it's extreme forms.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:31, closed)
Oh I see...
Why don't you think that mental disorders don't exist?
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:32, closed)
I don't.
I just don't think OCD necessarily does.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:34, closed)
Ok,
So why do you think OCD is different to other mental disorders then?
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:16, closed)
Well, because it's clearly deliberate and generally unnecessary.
As opposed to spontaneous and uncontrolled.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:19, closed)
It really isn't deliberate.

(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:32, closed)
Then why does one do it if it's not deliberate?
As I say - I'm not an expert on the subject, but I can't help thinking that if it's annoying, frustrating or debilitating then, er ... don't do it.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:42, closed)
Again...
A fundamental failure to understand OCD (wikipedia is your friend). The *obsessions* themselves are debilitating. The *compulsions* are a reaction to the obsessions and are an attempt to eliminate or reduce the anxiety caused by them. The obsessions *are spontaneous and uncontrollable* which means that the compulsions are necessary.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:52, closed)
As I said below - it seems the thoughts/obsessions as the engine
Need to be come to terms with and accepted.

Locking the back door 17 times is not going to make it safer, or lucky, or help you pass your exam.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:00, closed)
It is deliberate.
It's done in response to nagging anxiety that the sufferer cannot ignore without suffering extreme mental distress.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:49, closed)
He's completely right you know.
It's the same with most 'nyoo-ro-logikull cun-di-shuns', so-called.
I personally know this to be true - I tell everyone I have epilepsy, but really I just throw fits so people look at me.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:44, closed)
I can't claim to be an expert on the subject, but I didn't realise OCD was neurological.
I thought it was psychological.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 11:47, closed)
Posttraumatic stress disorder is "only" psychological
would you say a soldier suffering from it was just over-reacting to loud noises? I've known a couple of guys who basically can't stop repeting the same phrases and performing the same little actions and it drove them spare. Do ypou understand the "cumpulsion" part of OCD? Its not something people do by choice.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:31, closed)
I hardly think the two are comparable.
Locking the back door 17 times and then washing one's hands twice with water and twice to rinse for obsessive fear of catching a cold is significantly different from spending a whole year in an environment where being shelled and sniped at by anyone in the vicinity and seeing men, women and children be quite literally blown limb from limb.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:41, closed)
In a similar vein,
thinking you're 'fat' and 'revolting' and starving yourself because of it, just because you want to be skinny, is trivial in comparison to the actual suffering experienced by someone who was abused as a child. They're the ones with something real to worry about, while the anorexic should just shut up and eat more.

Don't belittle anyone's suffering. Not understanding it is one thing; making it out to be trivial because there's worse things is quite another.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:57, closed)
Fair enough
But I do kind of feel that way about anorexia too - likewise I believe fatness can be cured through cake eating-avoidance.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:09, closed)
It seems you're forgetting two things about the mind:
1. Our minds notice (or even make up) patterns very easily.
2. The mind is generally quite lazy.

When some people experience fear/anxiety for no real reason, they want to return to feeling comfortable as quickly as possible (so they won't think logically like you have, because it takes too much time).
So their mind will identify patterns of behaviour that it believes 'led' them to this fear/anxiety, no matter how arbitrary.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:42, closed)
This
would appear to be the most acceptable answer I've been given so far.

Thank you.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:45, closed)
No probs fella
Glad I could shed some light!
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 19:24, closed)
Post traumaticv stress disorder isn't
spending a year being shelled.

It's the time after afterwards, where you still think you're being shelled when someone pops a crisp packet.

They're both reactions to what are really non existant stimuli.

You're comparing apples and oranges.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:55, closed)
Yes, OK - I accept that.
But I still think they're not really comparable - while I accept that OCD may be brought on by stressful situations, it's the irrationality of continuing with it when it becomes annoying or debilitating that I don't understand.
(, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:58, closed)

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