Quite bored now
You are simply wrong about that. You don't have conscious access to the vast majority of what your brain does and you might qualify much of it as 'irrational'. Your conscious self has much less control over you than you think.

As has been pointed out repeatedly, it's the *obsessions* that annoy (distress) you and the compulsions *reduce* that distress. To reduce distress *is rational*. If you actually want to understand this (and aren't just trolling) go and do some reading. Otherwise, carry on.
(flimflam_machine, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 11:33, 1 reply)

Yes I understand that.
What I don't get is to take the compulsions to the level that they're annoying or debilitating - ie - stressful.

As for rationality - if that is the case, and we're all irrational, then what of reason, laws, mathematics, science? All just a load of mumbo-jumbo made up by irrational people?

It would be a very good argument for religion, this - the universe is chaos, life is meaningless and ultimately futile - believe in god and this system of understanding the world.

Or - y'know - keep closing and opening your living room door and saying "Fish" 20 times before going to the toilet, because otherwise your mother will explode.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 11:54, closed)

Look down there

(flimflam_machine, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 14:30, closed)

You still keep going off on the wrong tangent.
You're not describing OCD behaviour there. You're just making up some nutty example of strange behaviour. OCD people don't imagine their mothers are going to explode.

OCD people don't fear any consequences of failing to do something. The complusive door checker isn't thinking of what will happen if he forgets to lock the door. He's just simply compelled to check the door.

Their actions are exactly the same as the things we all do, all the time, but repeated and/or exagerated. We all check our doors and wash our hands. None of us repeatedly slam doors and worry about our mothers exploding.

You're either attention-whoring or trolling here.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 15:27, closed)

Ah - perhaps I was confused by Dissolved Mynci, who asked
"what's your take on having to have the curtains the right way or your parents will die? if drawers aren't shut in the right order then the house will burn down?"

I figured they were examples of OCD sufferers being in fear of consequences.

But you're right - I'm trolling and attention-whoring, it's nothing to do with discussion or exploring my original point - it's based entirely on my personally being a wanker.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 16:29, closed)

Aw,
come on, you're a big boy.

It's obvious you're doing a bit of trolling, but having managed to hook one or two of us, it's bad form to flounce off like that. I'm not calling you a wanker, so you don't need to get offended.

(edit) I didn't read the other post. What you said makes more sense. I don't think that's a valid example of OCD though.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 17:34, closed)

Thank you.
You're more than welcome.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 19:00, closed)

Ok, I'm biting. I know I shouldn't feed trolls, but here goes...
"If the OCDist realises that the compulsion are irrational/over the top, then I still don't understand why they do them, as they're irrational."

The person with OCD will realise that to a normal person their behaviour is over the top and not normal.

Take the example of a person locking the door and having to check twenty times in case they've not done it right. They're scared of the consequences if they get it wrong. Now, a normal person will check and when they do a little switch switches in their head and they stop worrying and get on with their lives. The person with OCD has a faulty switch that doesn't switch. They keep worrying, and the worry can be so strong it's completely debilitating. Just ignoring simply isn't an option.

If a normal person wasn't sure if they'd locked the door they'd worry. I know that for me it would be a distracting thought throughout the day. You wouldn't think it at all strange if that person went back to check to reassure themselves that the door was locked. But if we follow your logic they should just lock it right the first time and then learn to deal with the worry. Clearly, since people aren't right all the time, this worry mechanism has a rightful place in our heads. There's a good reason why we double check some things.

For the OCD sufferer it's the worry mechanism that doesn't work, or at least the mental switch that stops the worry. Just ignoring the worry doesn't make it go away, it makes it worse. The person knows they shouldn't worry, but that doesn't stop them worrying, so they do the thing that does stop them worrying.

Why do you not want to accept that some people find it harder to just stop doing these things than you do? Why is this such a problem for you?
(robbersdog, Mon 5 Jul 2010, 23:53, closed)

Starting with name-calling doesn't do your position much good in the PR/taking it seriously stakes.
I don't have a problem. I just don't understand why someone would evince a behaviour that they themselves found annoying or debilitating. To me it seems foolish.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 6 Jul 2010, 9:57, closed)

to most of
us it seems foolish. If it didn't, there wouldn't be anything to discuss.

But to say foolish behaviour shouldn't exist on the grounds it's foolish is a bit, er, foolish.

If you could stop people doing stupid things just by pointing out they're stupid, you'd be solving a lot of problems. Tell a herion addict, or even a smoker that he's being an idiot. See if that helps.

I think you made your point about 20 posts ago.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Tue 6 Jul 2010, 12:25, closed)