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Ocd
xbling
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I watched a drama the other night where a character had OCD. How debilitating it must be and sad for the family and friends. I once heard that the figures of those suffering this is quite high and some people keep it to themselves. I knew a man who had to give up work for a while but is now back on track. Has anyone been affected by it in anyway?
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He's obsessed by germs and constantly needs to wash his hands.
my 2 year old daughter was jumping all over him the other day and she has a bit of a snotty nose.
His face:eek:, he was panicked, freak out and I thought he was about to cry.
I had to get the antibac out
I am exactly the same. My OCD comes in the form of checking windows and doors are locked and there are no plugs in the sockets. I have to unplug everything except the fridge when I leave the house. I circle the house 3 times before I leave checking every plug socket and window, then when I lock the front door I have to check it 32 times, in a particular pattern I even then drive a certain way, so I can check all windows again from the outside. I know it is crazy and drives my OH nuts, but he has learnt that if you disturb me while I am doing it, I will just have to start again. I wish I could stop it, but I am lucky really because it doesn't actually stop me from doing things just takes longer for me to leave the house! :eek:
I had to touch my temple 4 times while typing this.
However a good friend of mine has it much worse. She has facial tics, can't read books because she gets obsessed over certain words and numbers, has to say prayers to guide dogs if she sees them in the street, and has to touch certain ornaments if she walks past them in the house plus a multitude of other habits. She's considerably better than she was thanks to therapy, but when she gets stressed the ocd comes back. It's very dehabilitating for her. She was a professional woman with a very responsible job but had to take early retirement.
Quite true. I'm always making sure the towels in our house are hung neatly on their racks, and that everything is generally clean and tidy. I like to make sure that things match each other as much as possible too.
I think so too.. it's part of human behavior to be drawn to order, ritual and pattern and only crosses into becoming a 'disorder' when it negatively affects your life.
Therefore I guess it becomes 'OCD' when you take four times the length of time to do anything because you have to check, re-check and check again that the front door is locked, for example.
It's insane and it drives me crazy. Told the doctor and my counsellor and they haven't told me anything as they consider my behaviour to be mild which is fair I suppose.
I once pulled the front door knob out of the door doing something similar to that ...
I disagree. There exists, in addition to OCD, 'OCPD', which stands for 'Obsesive Compulsive Personality Disorder', which is a personality disorder rather than an anxiety disorder. Maybe OCPD is quite common, but I do not believe true OCD is present in most people.
OCD is about a lot more than being neat and tidy. It's always with you, you can always feel it and the anxiety it causes. It's irrational in a way that being tidy isn't - if my bathroom door handle isn't pushed up to the highest position, does it matter? No, of course not. But I still have to get out of bed and check it whenever someone opens or closes the door, whatever time of the night that may be.
If a cold object touches me I have to touch a cold object on the same point on the opposite side of my body. If I don't, I feel so wrong in a way that doesn't subside quickly. Sometimes I feel like I have invisible 'energy beams' coming out of my eyes, getting tangled behind radiators and other objects - and I have to stare desperately to try and untangle them, no matter how hard they resist. I know it's crazy, but what choice do I have?
Those are some of my compulsions. Then of course there are the obsessions that are so often overlooked in the media. Obsessive thoughts. The worst thing you can possibly do in a particular situation - being terrified of doing it, for no particular reason. Being worried about saying terrible things at a funeral to the relatives of the deceased - even though, of course, you never would. Or saying hurtful things to people who you care about.
If it's irrational, and you know it's irrational, but you're still powerless, then it's OCD.
Then I got the flu and was laid out for a fortnight, nothing terrible happened even tho' I'd not been able to check the house once. Basically cured me of it.
This is a fantastic post. I have a good friend who suffers very severely from OCD, to the extent he can hardly leave his own home anymore at the age of 25.
When my friends or other people say "I have a BIT of OCD" it really annoys me.. you can't have a bit of OCD.. either you have it, or you have a personality type disorder. OCD RUINS lives, and I feel so so sorry for anybody who has, or deals with it in one way or another whether through friends or family.
There's more to OCD than just checking the front door is locked and you keyboard is nice and straight on your desk.
The episode of "Scrubs" where MJ Fox plays an OCD sufferer is fantastic.
Yours too.
FWIW, I describe my OCD as 'mild', but that's because I've worked hard at it over the years. I think of it as a demon in my head fighting me for control of my personality. I'm pleased to say some very considerate people have helped me avoid what I'm really not comfortable doing; one doctor helped me understand that I can just say 'No'.
I have broken the lock several times doing this. The lock is playing up again, so bad we are having to get a new door, the third one in just under 7 years. I have lost count of the amount of trains to work I have missed as aIthough I have done my checks, by the time I get to the station I feel so sick I have to go back home and check again, mad!
Thank you
I have a severe case of OCD, but not the type you would think, i.e. i must clean a lot and check things a lot. It's much more than that.
I have had it all my life and I don't know any different
As for my family, not supportive at all.